introducing  ^he 

merican 
L  Spirit 


Edward  A.Steiner 


LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 

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INTRODUCING  THE 
AMERICAN   SPIRIT 


BY  EDWARD  A.  STEINER 

INTRODUCING  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

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THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 


Introducing    The 
American  Spirit 


By 
Edward  A.  Steiner 

Author  of  "From  Alien  to  Citizen"  "The 
Immigrant  Tide"  etc. 


New    York  Chicago  Toronto 

Fleming     H.     Resell     Company 

London  and          Edinburgh 


LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
DAVIS 


Copyright,  1915,  by 
FLEMING  H.  REVELL  COMPANY 


New  York:  158  Fifth  Avenue 
Chicago:  125  North  Wabash  Ave. 
Toronto:  25  Richmond  Street,  W. 
London:  21  Paternoster  Square 
Edinburgh:  100  Princes  Street 


To 

Professor  Richard  Hochdoerfer,  Ph.  D. 

erudite  scholar  and  most  lovable 
friend,    this    book    is  dedicated 


Introducing  the  Introduction 

"  T~\AS    ist   ganz  Americanish"     When- 
*^  ever  a  German  says  this,  he  means 
that  it  is  something  which  is  practical,  lavish, 
daringly  reckless  or  lawless. 

It  means  a  short  cut  to  achievement,  a 
disregard  of  convention,  an  absence  of  those 
qualities  which  have  given  to  the  older  na 
tions  of  the  world  that  fine,  distinguishing 
flavor  which  is  a  fruit  of  the  spirit. 

Many  attempts  have  been  made  to  en 
lighten  the  Old  World  upon  that  point ;  but 
in  spite  of  exchange-professorships  and  some 
notable,  interpretative  books  upon  the  sub 
ject,  we  are  still  only  the  "  Land  of  the 
Dollar." 

We  are  not  loved  as  a  nation,  largely  be 
cause  we  are  not  understood,  and  we  are  not 
understood  because  we  do  not  understand 
ourselves,  and  we  do  not  understand  our 
selves  because  we  have  not  studied  ourselves 
in  the  light  of  the  spirit  of  other  nations. 
9 


io         Introducing  the  Introduction 

Coining  to  this  country  a  product  of  Ger 
manic  civilization,  knowing  intimately  the 
Slavic,  Semitic,  and  Latin  spirit,  the  writer 
was  compelled  to  compare  and  to  choose. 
Yet  he  would  never  have  dared  write  upon 
this  subject ;  not  only  because  it  was  a  diffi 
cult  task,  but  because  he  had  been  so  com 
pletely  weaned  from  the  Old  World  spirit 
that  he  had  lost  the  proper  perspective. 
Moreover,  of  formal  books  upon  this  subject 
there  was  no  dearth. 

During  the  last  ten  years,  however,  he  has 
had  the  advantage  of  being  the  cicerone  of 
distinguished  Europeans  who  came  to  study 
various  phases  of  our  institutional  life,  and 
they  brought  the  opportunity  of  fresh  com 
parisons  and  also  of  new  view-points  in  this 
realm  of  the  national  spirit. 

These  unconventional  studies,  most  of 
which  received  their  inspiration  through  the 
visit  of  the  Herr  Director  and  his  charming 
wife,  are  here  offered  as  an  Introduction  to 
the  American  Spirit,  not  only  to  the  Herr 
Director  and  the  Frau  Directorin,  but  to 
those  Americans  who  do  not  realize  that  a 


Introducing  the  Introduction          1 1 

nation,  as  well  as  man,  "  cannot  live  by  bread 
alone  ; "  that  its  most  precious  asset,  its  great 
est  element  of  strength,  is  its  Spirit,  and  that 
the  elements  out  of  which  the  Spirit  is  made, 
are  so  rare,  so  delicate,  that  when  once  wasted 
they  cannot  readily  be  replaced. 

As  the  sin  against  the  Holy  Spirit  is  the 
one  sin  for  which  the  Gospel  holds  out  no 
forgiveness  for  the  individual,  so  there  seems 
to  be  no  hope  for  the  nation  which  trans 
gresses  against  this  most  vital  element  of  its 
higher  life. 

Inasmuch  also  as  the  Spirit  is  something 
which  guides  and  cannot  be  guided,  these 
informal  introductions  appear  in  no  geo 
graphic  or  historic  sequence,  but  are  neces 
sarily  left  to  the  leading  of  the  spirit,  of 
which  "  no  man  knoweth  whence  it  cometh 
or  whither  it  goeth." 

E.  A.  S. 
y  Iowa. 


CONTENTS 

I.  THE  HERR  DIRECTOR  MEETS  THE 

AMERICAN  SPIRIT       .        .        .15 

II.  OUR  NATIONAL  CREED    ...      35 

III.  THE  SPIRIT  OUT-OF-DOORS    .        .58 

IV.  THE  SPIRIT  AT  LAKE  MOHONK        .      74 

V.  LOBSTER  AND  MINCE  PIE        .        .      92 

VI.  THE    HERR    DIRECTOR    AND    THE 

"  MISSOURY  "  SPIRIT  .        .        .112 

VII.  THE  HERR  DIRECTOR  AND  THE  COL 

LEGE  SPIRIT        .        *        .        .129 

VIII.  THE  RUSSIAN  SOUL  AND  THE  AMER 

ICAN  SPIRIT        .        .        .        .     147 

IX.  CHICAGO        .        .        .        .        .166 

X.  WHERE  THE  SPIRIT  is  YOUNG         *    184 

XI.  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT  AMONG  THE 

MORMONS  .        .        ...     199 

XII.  THE    CALIFORNIA    CONFESSION   OF 

FAITH        .        .        .        «  216 

XIII.  THE  GRINNELL  SPIRIT     .        .        .     237 

XIV.  THE  COMMENCEMENT  AND  THE  END     249 

XV.  THE  CHALLENGE  OF  THE  AMERICAN 

SPIRIT  .        ;    262 


I 

The  Herr  Director  Meets  the  American 
Spirit 

THE  Herr  Director  and  I  were  sitting 
over  our  coffee  in  the  Cafe  Bauer, 
Unter  den  Linden.  In  the  midst  of 
my  account  of  some  of  the  men  of  America 
and  the  idealistic  movements  in  which  they 
are  interested,  he  rudely  interrupted  with  : 
"  You  may  tell  that  to  some  one  who  has 
never  been  in  the  United  States  ;  but  not  to 
me  who  have  travelled  through  the  length  and 
breadth  of  it  three  times."  He  said  it  in  an 
ungenerous,  impatient  way,  although  his  last 
visit  was  thirty  years  ago  and  his  journeys 
across  this  continent  necessarily  hurried.  I 
dared  not  say  much  more,  for  I  am  apt  to 
lose  my  temper  when  any  one  anywhere, 
criticizes  my  adopted  country  or  questions 
my  glowing  accounts  of  it. 

But  I  did  say  :  "  When  you  come  over  the 
next  time,  let  me  be  your  guide." 
15 


1 6     Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

"  Why  should  I  want  to  go  over  again  ?  " 
he  replied.  "  It's  a  noisy,  dirty,  hope 
lessly  materialistic  country.  You  have  sky 
scrapers,  but  no  beauty ;  money,  but  no 
ideals;  garishness,  but  no  comfort.  You 
have  despatch,  but  no  courtesy  ;  you  are  in 
genious,  but  not  thorough  ;  you  have  fine 
clothes,  but  no  style ;  churches,  but  no  re 
ligion  ;  universities,  but  no  learning.  No,  I 
have  been  there  three  times.  That's  enough. 
I  know  all  about  it.  Fertig  ! "  And  with 
that  he  dismissed  me  without  giving  me  a 
chance  to  relieve  my  feelings,  of  which  there 
were  many ;  although  he  took  advantage  of 
a  minute  that  was  left  and  told  me  that  I  was 
an  Unausstehlicher  Americaner  whose  judg 
ment  had  been  warped  by  my  great  love  for 
my  adopted  country. 

Evidently  the  Herr  Director  reversed  his 
decision  to  come  to  this  country  ;  for  the  fol 
lowing  spring  I  received  a  cablegram  to  meet 
him  on  the  arrival  of  his  ship  at  the  Hamburg- 
American  dock,  which  of  course  I  promptly 
did.  The  Herr  Director  and  the  Frau  Di- 
rectorin  stepped  onto  the  soil  of  the  United 


The  Herr  Director  ij 

States  with  a  predisposition  to  be  martyrs,  to 
endure  the  sufferings  entailed  by  travel  with 
as  little  grace  as  possible,  and  to  suppress  to 
the  utmost  all  pleasurable  emotion. 

On  the  other  hand,  I  was  determined  to 
show  off  my  United  States  from  its  best  side, 
to  woo  and  win  the  Herr  Director's  and  the 
Frau  Directories  approval.  In  my  laudable 
endeavor  I  seemed  to  be  supported  by  that 
divine  providence  which  watches  over  the 
whole  world  in  general,  but  over  the  United 
States  in  particular.  The  weather  was  per 
fect,  the  sky  festooned  in  fleecy  clouds,  the 
air  charged  by  a  divine  energy  ;  and  when 
the  sun  shines  upon  the  harbor  of  New  York 
— well,  even  the  most  taciturn  European  can 
not  resist  it. 

The  Herr  Director  and  the  Frau  Directorin 
greeted  all  the  good  Lord's  endeavor  and 
mine,  with  an  air  of  condescension  as  some 
thing  due  their  station.  From  force  of  habit 
they  worried  and  fussed  about  their  baggage, 
although  there  was  nothing  to  worry  or  fuss 
about,  for  it  was  safe  on  its  way  to  the  hotel. 
They  were  shot  under  the  river  and  the  busy 


1 8      Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

streets  of  Manhattan  and  whirled  up  to  the 
twenty-first  story  of  their  thirty-two-storied 
hotel  without  having  taken  more  than  a  dozen 
steps  to  reach  it. 

The  Herr  Director  and  the  Frau  Directorin 
refused  to  be  impressed  by  the  rooms  as 
signed  them,  in  which  not  a  single  comfort  or 
luxury  was  missing,  and  complained  because 
they  were  not  as  big  as  barns  and  the  ceilings 
not  as  high  as  a  cathedral.  The  Frau  Direct 
orin  eyed  the  bath-room  almost  in  silence ; 
but  she  did  wonder  why  they  put  out  a  whole 
month's  supply  of  towels  at  once,  instead  of 
doing  it  in  the  provident  European  way  of 
one  towel  every  other  day. 

The  Herr  Director  and  the  Frau  Directorin, 
like  all  Europeans  who  can  afford  to  travel, 
are  exceedingly  aesthetic,  and  at  the  same 
time  fond  of  good  food,  and  their  first  ap 
proving  smile  was  won  at  the  breakfast 
table,  when  they  were  each  face  to  face  with 
half  a  grapefruit  of  vast  circumference,  repos 
ing  upon  a  bed  of  crushed  ice.  Their  smiles 
broadened  when  they  had  introduced  their 
palates  to  an  American  breakfast  food,  a 


The  Herr  Director  19 

crispy  bit  of  nut-flavored  air  bubble,  floating 
upon  thick,  rich  cream  ;  and,  although  they 
had  made  up  their  minds  that  American  cof 
fee  was  vile  and  they  must  not  taste  it,  they 
could  not  resist  its  aroma,  and  drank  it  with 
a  relish. 

When  the  Herr  Director  said :  "  DerKaffee 
ist  gut"  I  knew  that  my  prayers  were  being 
answered,  and  that  the  good  Lord  still  loves 
the  United  States  of  America. 

Most  of  us  have  shown  off  something — a 
baby,  school-children,  a  schoolhouse,  a  town, 
an  automobile,  a  cemetery.  You  know  that 
feeling  of  pride  which  thrills  you,  that  fear 
lest  pride  have  a  fall  if  it  or  they  fail  to 
"  show  up."  But  have  you  ever  tried  to 
show  off  a  country — a  country  which  you 
love  with  a  lover's  passion  ;  a  country  whose 
virtues  are  so  many,  whose  defects  are  so 
obvious  ;  a  country  whose  glory  you  have 
gloried  in  before  the  whole  world,  but  whose 
halo  has  so  many  rust  spots  that  you  wish 
you  might  have  had  a  chance  to  use  Sapolio 
on  it  ere  you  let  it  shine  before  your  visitors  ? 
A  country  of  one  hundred  million  inhabit- 


2O     Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

ants,  of  whom  every  fourth  person  smells 
of  the  steerage,  when  you  wish  that  they  all 
smelled  of  the  Mayflower ;  a  country  where 
more  people  are  ready  to  die  for  its  freedom 
than  anywhere,  and  more  people  ought  to  be 
in  the  penitentiary  for  abusing  that  freedom  ; 
a  country  of  vast  distances,  bound  together 
by  huge  railways  and  controlled  by  unsavory 
politicians  ;  a  country  with  more  homely  vir 
tues,  more  virtuous  homes,  than  anywhere 
else,  yet  where  the  divorce  courts  never 
cease  their  grinding  and  alimonies  have  no 
end? 

Ah !  to  show  off  such  a  country,  and  to 
have  to  begin  to  do  it  in  New  York,  beats 
showing  off  babies,  school-children,  automo 
biles,  and  cemeteries. 

The  Herr  Director  was  sure  he  would 
hate  our  sky-scrapers  ;  he  had  seen  them 
from  the  ship,  and  the  assaulted  sky-line 
looked  to  him  like  the  huge  mouth  of  an  old 
woman  with  its  isolated,  protruding  teeth. 
Frankly,  I  myself  am  not  interested  in 
sky-scrapers ;  I  prefer  the  elm  trees  which 
shade  the  streets  of  the  quiet  town  where  I 


The  Herr  Director  21 

live.  I  thank  God  daily  for  the  men  who 
had  faith  enough  to  plant  trees  upon  those 
wind-swept  prairies.  They  were  mighty 
spirits  who  came  to  the  edges  of  civilization 
and  drove  the  wilderness  farther  and  farther 
back  by  drawing  furrows,  sowing  wheat,  and 
planting  trees — those  men  whom  heat  and  a 
relentless  desert  could  not  separate  from  that 
other  ocean  with  its  Golden  Gate  to  the  sun 
set  and  the  oldest  world.  Determining  to 
have  and  to  hold  it  till  time  is  no  more,  they 
proceeded  to  unite  the  two  oceans  in  holy 
wedlock.  A  task  which  involved  another 
nation  in  hopeless  scandal  and  bankruptcy, 
they  completed  with  as  little  ceremony  as 
that  which  prevails  at  a  wedding  before  a 
justice  of  the  peace.  Those  were  the  men 
who  went  among  savages,  yet  did  not  become 
like  them ;  who  for  homes  dug  holes  in  the 
ground  among  rattlesnakes,  prairie-dogs,  and 
moles,  and  made  of  such  homes  the  begin 
nings  of  towns  and  cities. 

If  I  admire  the  sky-scrapers  it  is  because 
they  are  an  attempt  on  the  part  of  this  same 
type  of  people  to  do  pioneering  among  the 


22      Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

clouds.  Public  lands  being  exhausted,  they 
proceed  to  annex  the  sky  and  people  it,  now 
that  the  frontier  is  no  more. 

What  the  Herr  Director  and  the  Frau  Di- 
rectorin  would  say  to  the  sky-scraper  meant 
to  me,  not  whether  they  would  say  it  is  beau 
tiful  or  ugly,  but  whether  they  would  discover 
in  it  the  Spirit  of  America,  the  daring  spirit 
of  the  pioneers  who  built  Towers  of  Babel, 
though  reversing  the  process  ;  for  they  began 
with  a  confusion  of  tongues  which  outbabeled 
Babel,  and  finished  on  a  day  of  Pentecost 
when  men  said :  "  We  do  hear  them  all 
speaking  our  own  tongue,  the  mighty  works 
of  God." 

We  moved  along  Broadway,  pressing 
through  the  crowds,  the  Herr  Director  puffing 
and  panting,  the  Frau  Directorin  doing  like 
wise.  The  Flatiron  Building  with  its  accen 
tuated  leanness  lured  them  on  until  we  came 
to  the  open  space  of  Madison  Square  and 
they  were  face  to  face  with  the  Metropolitan 
tower. 

The  Herr  Director  said  :  "  Gott  im  Him- 
mel!"  The  Frau  Directorin  said:  "  Urn 


The  Herr  Director  23 

Gottes  Himmels  Willen!"  And  then  they 
gazed  their  fill  in  silence. 

I  have  never  "  done  "  Europe  with  a  guide, 
nor  have  I  ever  had  an  American  city  intro 
duced  to  me  through  a  megaphone,  so  I 
scarcely  knew  what  to  say. 

I  did  not  know  the  exact  height  of  that 
tower,  nor  how  many  tons  of  steel  support 
it,  nor  the  size  of  the  clock  dial  which  tells 
the  time  of  day  up  there  "  among  the  dizzy 
flocks  of  sky-scrapers  "  ;  but  I  did  know  that 
the  tower  represented  some  big,  daring 
thing,  an  expression  of  the  spirit  which  could 
not  be  defined  nor  easily  interpreted  to  an 
other. 

After  his  first  outburst  the  Herr  Director 
continued  to  say  nothing — he  was  stunned  ; 
so  was  the  Frau  Directorin.  We  walked  on, 
looking  up,  higher  and  higher  still,  until  our 
eyes  met  another  tower,  the  Woolworth 
Building — a  shrewd  Yankee  five-and-ten-cent 
enterprise,  flowering  into  purest  Gothic. 

The  cathedrals  of  Europe  are  wonderful, 
undoubtedly.  Master  minds  drew  the  plans 
and  master  hands  built  them,  slowly,  by  an 


24     Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

age-long  process.  They  turned  religious 
ideals  into  stone  lace  and  lilies,  hideous  gar 
goyles  and  brave  flying  buttresses,  aisles  and 
naves  and  rose  windows.  Yes,  they  are  quite 
wonderful.  But  to  turn  spools  of  thread, 
granite-ware,  and  dust-cloths  into  this  glory 
of  steel  and  stone  is,  to  me,  more  marvellous 
still.  The  spirit  of  the  pioneer  cleaving 
the  sky  has  become  beautiful  as  it  has  as 
cended. 

We  are  worrying  a  great  deal  about  our 
lack  of  sensitiveness  to  beauty  and  form ;  we 
chide  ourselves  as  being  crude  and  unrespon 
sive  to  art ;  we  rush  madly  into  the  study  of 
aesthetics  and  buy  Old  Masters  at  the  price 
of  a  king's  ransom  ;  yet  we  are  not  truly 
fostering  America's  art  sense.  It  ought  not 
to  come  in  the  Old  World's  way — by  glori 
fying  dogmas  and  creeds,  by  petrifying  relig 
ion  into  buttresses  and  incasing  our  dead  in 
tombs  of  beryl  and  onyx.  It  ought  not  to 
come  with  its  mixture  of  paganism  and 
religion,  its  armless  Venus  and  its  headless 
Victory.  It  should  come  first  as  it  is  com 
ing — with  the  making  of  homes  good  to  live 


The  Herr  Director  25 

in,  factories  planned  to  work  in,  stores  fit  to 
do  business  in,  and  schools  built  to  teach  in. 
It  is  coming — yes,  it  is  coming. 

But  when  our  strong  boys  shall  make 
filagree  silver  ornaments,  carve  pretty  things 
on  bits  of  ivory,  or  exhaust  their  energy  in 
painting  a  lock  of  hair — when  that  time 
comes,  we  shall  be  an  old  people  ready  for 
our  ornamented  tombs. 

Next  I  took  the  Herr  Director  and  the 
Frau  Directorin  through  a  portal  flanked  by 
pillars  worthy  to  crown  any  Athenian  hill ;  I 
led  them  into  a  Parthenon  in  which  Athena 
herself  might  have  joyed  to  be  worshipped, 
and  we  heard  the  echoing  and  reechoing  of 
a  chant  which  lacked  nothing  but  incense 
and  organ  notes  to  make  one  think  one's  self 
in  an  Old  World  cathedral.  The  chant  was 
not  a  Miserere,  but  a  call  to  entrust  one's 
self  to  the  depths  of  the  earth — to  descend 
into  tubes  of  steel,  beneath  the  river,  and 
then  travel  to  the  fair  cities  of  the  living, 
throbbing,  thriving  West.  It  was  a  railway 
terminal  without  choking  smoke,  blinding 
dust,  or  deafening  noise ;  also  without  that 


26      Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

hideous  mechanical  ugliness  which  Ruskin  so 
hated.  This  was  merely  a  place  from  which 
one  started  to  reach  Oshkosh  or  Kokomo, 
Keokuk,  Kalamazoo,  or  Kankakee.  Yet 
more  beautiful  portals  never  swung  to  mor 
tals  in  their  fairest  dreams  of  journeying  to 
the  abodes  of  bliss.  The  Spirit  of  America, 
at  last  crowned  by  beauty. 

We  reached  our  hotel  fairly  exhausted  by 
our  morning's  walk ;  but,  after  being  prop 
erly  refreshed,  the  Herr  Director  ventured  to 
criticize. 

"  Yes,  you  are  a  wonderfully  resourceful 
people,  keen  and  energetic,  but  chaotic. 
You  take  an  Italian  campanile  and  elongate 
it  fifty  times  ;  or  a  Gothic  church,  and  atten 
uate  it;  or  a  Romanesque  cathedral,  and 
support  it  by  Ionic  pillars ;  or  a  cigar  box, 
and  enlarge  it  a  million  times.  You  put  all 
these  things  side  by  side,  and  no  one  asks : 
Will  they  harmonize,  or  will  they  clash  ? 

"  Each  man  builds  as  he  pleases,  although 
he  may  blot  out  the  other  man's  work  and 
waste  colossal  energy  merely  to  express  him 
self.  The  result  is  confusion.  You  can  feel 


The  Herr  Director  27 

that  unrest,  that  discord,  in  the  air.  My 
nerves  fairly  ache !  No,  we  shall  not  go  out 
this  afternoon.  We  must  rest  our  nerves." 

The  Herr  Director  always  spoke  for  his 
wife  as  well  as  for  himself,  thus  expressing 
the  collective  spirit  of  the  Old  World.  They 
both  retired  for  a  long  rest,  while  I  was  left 
wondering  how  to  introduce  New  York  to 
them  in  the  evening. 

At  five  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  they 
emerged  from  their  apartments,  their  wearied 
Old  World  nerves  rested,  and,  after  being 
stimulated  by  a  cup  of  coffee,  were  ready  for 
further  adventures. 

Broadway  at  that  hour  of  the  afternoon  is 
bewildering.  The  shoppers  have  almost  de 
serted  it,  and  it  is  crowded  by  the  clerks  who 
served  them,  the  cashiers  who  received  their 
money,  the  girls  who  trimmed  their  hats,  the 
men  who  cut  their  garments,  the  bookkeepers 
and  the  floor-walkers. 

Whole  towns  seem  to  pour  out  of  the 
department  stores  and  lofts  ;  the  makers  and 
menders  of  garments  flee  from  the  heart  of 
the  city,  from  this  pulsing  machine  which  has 


28     Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

been  going  at  a  dangerous  speed.  They  go 
from  it  eagerly,  with  a  brave  show  of  cour 
age,  as  if  the  ten  hours'  labor  had  not  broken 
their  spirits  or  wearied  their  energy.  To 
count  the  ants  of  a  busy  hill  would  be  easier 
than  even  to  estimate  the  numbers  of  that 
throng. 

They  climb  the  steps  of  the  elevated  rail 
way  trains,  and  crowd  them,  and  cram  the 
cars  until  they  fairly  bulge. 

They  lay  siege  to  the  surface  cars,  which 
merely  crawl  through  the  busy  streets,  so 
heavy  are  they  and  so  closely  does  one  car 
follow  the  other. 

They  descend  into  the  depths  of  the  earth, 
and  breathe  the  humid,  human  air  of  those 
noisy  catacombs.  They  walk  by  companies, 
regiments,  and  great  armies,  dodging  auto 
mobiles  which  infest  the  streets  with  their 
speed  and  their  stenches. 

They  accomplish  it  all  with  so  little  friction 
to  each  other's  spirit,  with  such  a  silent  good 
nature,  with  such  a  sense  of  self-reliance,  and 
with  so  little  official  machinery  to  control 
them,  that  even  the  Herr  Director  said: 


The  Herr  Director  29 

"  This  is  wonderful !  "  although  he  declared 
that  he  would  suffocate  in  that  throng,  and 
the  Frau  Directorin  cried  out  every  few  min 
utes,  "  Um  Gottes  Himmels  Willen!" 

There  was  an  absence  of  politeness,  but 
we  saw  little  rudeness ;  there  were  accidents, 
but  the  crowd  did  not  lose  its  head ;  there 
were  discomforts,  but  little  display  of  ill 
nature ;  each  for  himself,  and  yet  no  clash 
ing.  The  American  crowd  is  more  wonder 
ful  than  the  American  sky-scrapers. 

At  the  Royal  Opera  in  Vienna,  the  ap 
proach  to  the  ticket  office  is  guarded  by 
steel  inclosures  in  which  every  prospective 
buyer  is  separated  from  the  other,  and  one 
has  to  zigzag  between  these  pens  until  he 
reaches  the  official's  window.  Crowding  is 
rendered  impossible,  but,  to  make  the  obvi 
ously  impossible  more  actually  impossible, 
there  is  the  usual  number  of  uniformed 
guards. 

Watch  the  American  crowd — this  group 
of  unlike,  self-centered  individuals ;  in  a 
moment  it  is  organized,  it  obeys  itself— or 
rather,  it  obeys  its  spirit,  the  American  spirit 


30     Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

of  self-direction,  with  its  genius  for  organi 
zation. 

To  me,  the  American  crowd  is  so  wonder 
ful  because  it  shows  this  other  side  of  its 
spirit.  It  is  heterogeneous,  like  the  archi 
tecture  of  its  buildings,  perhaps  even  more 
so — if  that  be  possible. 

Here  are  Jews  from  Russia's  crowded  Pale, 
where  they  had  to  slink  along  with  shuffling 
gait  and  dared  go  so  far  and  no  farther — so 
fast  and  no  faster. 

There  are  the  Slavic  peasants,  who  on  their 
native  soil,  prodded  by  the  goad,  moved  ox- 
like  along  an  endless  furrow,  drawing  the 
plow  of  autocracy. 

Next  is  the  Italian,  volatile  and  yet  static 
with  his  age-long  burdens,  with  his  fiery  na 
ture  cramped  into  his  diminutive  frame. 

Here  is  the  Negro,  the  child-man,  the 
shackles  of  whose  slavery  are  scarcely 
broken. 

The  Asiatic,  too,  comes  with  hardly  courage 
enough  to  lift  his  softly  treading  feet ;  while 
leading  them  all  is  this  strident,  giant  child 
of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race  whose  wind-swept 


The  Herr  Director  3 1 

cradle  was  rocked  by  freedom,  and  who  with 
dominant  will  has  spanned  the  oceans  and 
crossed  the  mountains. 

Of  these  myriads  whom  he  leads,  some 
will  be  a  drag  upon  progress,  and  detain  the 
strong  or  perhaps  retard  the  race ;  yet  they 
are  trying  to  keep  up,  and  by  their  efforts, 
by  delving  in  the  deep,  by  feeding  with  their 
brute  strength  our  huge  enginery,  may 
make  the  flowering  of  the  American  spirit 
easier. 

Yes,  the  Anglo-Saxon  is  leading  them ; 
but  will  he  continue  to  lead,  now  that  he  no 
longer  travels  in  the  prairie  schooner,  but  in 
the  automobile — now  that  he  wields  the  golf 
club  and  tennis  racket,  rather  than  the  spade 
and  plow  on  the  prairie  ? 

Will  he  now  lead  them  from  the  breakers 
of  Newport  as  well  as  once  he  led  them  from 
Plymouth  Rock  ? 

Will  he  lead  them  from  the  exclusive  club 
as  once  he  led  them  into  the  inclusive  home  ? 

These  were  the  doubts  which  filled  my 
mind,  but  which  I  did  not  share  with  my 
guests  as  I  guided  them ;  for  we  were  to 


32     Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

spend  the  evening  together,  and  one  needs 
all  one's  faith  in  New  York  at  night. 

We  spent  the  early  evening  hours  travel 
ling  around  the  world.  We  went  to  Arabia, 
where  dusky  children  from  the  desert  play 
in  the  gutters  of  Bleecker  Street ;  to  Greece, 
where  Spartan  and  Athenian  youth  dream  of 
the  golden  days  of  Pericles ;  to  China,  with 
its  joss-house,  its  faint  odors  of  sandal  wood, 
and  its  stronger  odors  wafted  from  the 
Bowery.  We  visited  Russia,  and  saw  its 
ghetto-dwellers  more  numerous  than  Abra 
ham  ever  thought  his  progeny  would  be 
come  ;  we  spent  some  time  in  Hungary,  with 
its  Gulyas  and  Csardas.  We  went  to  Bo 
hemia,  with  its  Narodni  Dom;  to  Italy,  south 
and  north,  with  its  strings  of  garlic,  its  fes 
toons  of  sausages,  its  hurdy-gurdy,  and  its 
rich  harvest  of  children.  We  had  glimpses 
of  France,  of  its  table  dyhote  and  painted 
women ;  travelled  through  darkest  Africa, 
touched  upon  India,  and  then  were  back 
again  upon  Broadway. 

As  in  the  sky  above  us  the  architectures 
of  the  world  strive  to  blend  and  fuse,  making 


The  Herr  Director  33 

a  mighty  new  impress ;  so  below,  these  colo 
nies  to  the  right  and  colonies  to  the  left,  like 
the  huge  limbs  of  some  ill-shapen  monster, 
try  to  blend  into  America. 

What  is  it  all  to  be  when  blended? 

Of  course  we  went  to  the  theater.  We 
saw  a  German  problem  play  made  over  to 
please  the  American  taste.  The  Herr  Di 
rector  knew  the  play  almost  by  heart,  and  he 
nearly  jumped  upon  the  stage  in  righteous 
indignation  when  in  the  last  act,  where  the 
author  drops  all  his  characters  into  a  bottom 
less  pit  and  everything  ends  in  confusion, 
the  play  ended  in  the  conventional  "  God- 
bless-you-my-children,"  "  happy-ever-after  " 
manner. 

We  walked  the  streets  of  New  York  until 
past  midnight,  and  finally  looked  down  upon 
it  from  the  roof  of  our  hostelry.  We  could 
see  the  moon  creeping  out  and  shedding  its 
mellow  glow  over  the  gayly  lighted  city. 
The  noises  were  almost  musical  up  there — 
like  sustained  organ  notes — and  we  talked 
about  the  play  with  its  happy  ending. 

"  You  are  right,"  I  said  ;  "  that  happy  end- 


34     Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

ing  is  foolish  and  childish.  Things  do  not 
always  end  happily ;  but  this  thing,  this  ex 
periment  in  making  a  nation  out  of  torn  frag 
ments,  this  founding  of  cities  in  a  day  out  of 
second  and  third  hand  material,  this  experi 
ment  in  man-making  and  nation-building 
must  end  well ;  for,  if  it  doesn't,  God's  great 
experiment  has  failed.  Shall  I  say,  God's 
last  experiment  has  failed?  You  see  we 
mustrit  fail — it  must  end  well.'* 

The  streets  were  all  but  silent.  From  the 
great  clock  on  the  Metropolitan  tower  hang 
ing  in  mid-air,  came  the  flashes  that  marked 
the  morning  hour.  Thick  mists  floated  in 
from  the  sea  and  filled  the  narrow,  chasm- 
like  streets  with  weird,  fantastic  shapes. 

The  Herr  Director  said  good-night.  The 
Frau  Directorin  did  likewise.  They  said  it 
very  solemnly,  as  behooves  those  who  have 
looked  deep  into  the  heart  of  a  great  mys 
tery,  who  have  felt  the  touch  of  a  mighty 
spirit  striving,  struggling,  agonizing  to  shape 
a  new  nation  out  of  the  world's  refuse. 


II 

Our  National  Creed 

THE  Herr  Director  and  the  Frau  Di- 
rectorin  wished  to  go  to  church  on 
Sunday,  and  after  eating  a  piously 
late  breakfast  I  spread  before  them  New 
York  City's  religious  bill  of  fare,  bewildering 
in  its  variety  and  puzzling  in  its  terminology. 

I  gave  them  a  choice  between  four  varieties 
of  Catholics  :  Roman,  Greek,  Old  and  Apos 
tolic;  more  than  twice  that  number  of  Lu 
therans,  separated  one  from  the  other  by  de 
grees  of  orthodoxy  and  nearness  to  or  far- 
ness  from  their  historic  confessions. 

There  were  Methodists  who  were  free  and 
those  who  were  Episcopalian,  Episcopalians 
who  were  not  Methodists  but  were  reformed, 
and  those  who  made  no  such  pretensions ; 
all  these  invited  us  to  worship  with  them. 

Many  varieties  of  Baptists  announced  their 
sermons  and  services,  offering  a  choice  be 
tween  those  who  were  free  and  those  who 
35 


36     Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

were  just  Baptists,  and  between  those  who 
were  Baptists  on  the  Seventh  Day  and  those 
who  did  not  specify  the  day  on  which  they 
were  Baptists. 

We  also  had  a  chance  to  discriminate  be 
tween  Dutch  Reformed,  German  Reformed 
or  Presbyterian  Reformed,  and  United  Pres 
byterians  divided  from  other  Presbyterians 
(presumably  unreformed)  for  reasons  known 
to  the  Fathers  who  died  long  since. 

If  we  had  been  radically  inclined  we  might 
have  browsed  among  Unitarians,  Ethical 
Culturists,  and  could  even  have  worshipped 
among  those  who  make  a  religion  out  of  not 
having  any. 

The  most  interesting  column  to  the  Herr 
Director  was  that  which  contained  our  exotic 
cults,  those  we  have  imported  and  those 
which  prove  that  we  have  not  neglected 
our  home  industry. 

It  was  disconcerting  to  me,  who  was  try 
ing  to  introduce  our  national  spirit,  to  realize 
how  varied  its  religious  expression  is,  and 
the  Herr  Director  got  no  little  amusement 
out  of  the  story  I  told  him  of  the  student  in 


Our  National  Creed  37 

one  of  our  colleges  who,  it  is  said,  came  to 
the  librarian  and  asked  for  a  book  on  "  Wild 
Religions  I  have  Met."  When  the  librarian 
suggested  it  might  be  Seton  Thompson's 
book  on  Wild  Animals,  he  said  it  was  not  in 
the  department  of  Zoology,  but  in  Philosophy 
in  which  the  assignment  for  the  reading  was 
given.  The  book  was  then  quickly  found. 
It  was  Prof.  Henry  James'  "  The  Variety  of 
Religious  Experience." 

When  we  succeeded  in  rescuing  the  Frau 
Directorin  out  of  the  maze  of  Sunday  Supple 
ments  in  which  she  was  entangled,  we  started 
in  pursuit  of  a  proper  place  of  worship,  in 
anything  but  a  worshipful  mood.  I  was 
bent  upon  showing  that  which  is  vastly  more 
difficult  to  interpret  than  sky-scrapers,  the 
Herr  Director  was  doubtful  that  we  had  any 
religious  spirit  at  all,  and  the  Frau  Directorin 
mourned  the  fact  that  she  had  to  leave  be 
hind  her  so  much  paper  which  might  have 
served  such  good  purposes  if  she  had  it  at 
home. 

Fifth  Avenue  recovers  something  of  its  de 
parted  exclusiveness  on  Sunday  morning  ;  for 


38     Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

althpugh  the  cheaper  stores  are  crowding 
upon  those  which  never  descend  to  bargain 
counters,  this  is  not  true  of  the  churches. 
They  still  are  in  good  repute,  and  await  the 
stated  hour  of  service  on  Sunday  morning 
without  excitement,  having  advertised  noth 
ing,  offering  no  ecclesiastical  bargains ;  con 
tent  to  live  as  the  birds  of  the  air,  whom  the 
"  Heavenly  Father  feedeth."  The  street  was 
almost  deserted;  here  and  there  a  taxicab 
darted  on  its  way  to  or  from  the  railway 
station  ;  the  hour  of  the  limousines  had  not 
yet  come,  and  the  people  who  strolled  along 
were  evidently,  like  ourselves,  unfashionable 
sojourners  seeking  a  tabernacle  in  Gotham's 
wilderness. 

Sauntering  along  the  street  was  less  inter 
esting  than  usual,  for  not  only  were  there  no 
crowds,  the  shop- windows  were  all  artistically 
curtained  and  there  was  nothing  to  see.  The 
Frau  Directorin  did  not  like  it  at  all,  "for  what 
good  is  it  to  walk  along  the  shopping  streets 
if  you  can't  look  into  the  shops  ?  " 

"You  see,  my  dear,"  the  Herr  Director 
remarked,  "  that  is  to  help  you  obey  one  of 


Our  National  Creed  39 

the  ten  commandments  which  womankind  is 
especially  prone  to  break,  'Thou  shalt  not 
covet.'  Incidentally  it  proves  that  we  are  in 
a  country  in  which  you  are  allowed  to  do  as 
you  please  every  day  and  do  nothing  on 
Sunday." 

"  No,"  I  replied,  "  it  merely  proves  that 
we  are  trying  to  save  one  day  a  week  from 
the  contamination  of  our  materialistic  ex 
istence." 

"  It  merely  proves,"  he  echoed,  "  that  you 
have  inherited  from  your  Anglo-Saxon  an 
cestors  the  worst  thing  they  could  leave  you  : 
their  hypocrisy.  I  stepped  behind  a  cur 
tained  bar  this  morning  and  found  it  run 
ning  at  full  blast.  You  evidently  do  your 
drinking  in  private  on  Sunday  and  your 
praying  in  public.  You  know  we  in  Ger 
many  do  the  opposite." 

"  No,  you  do  your  praying  and  drinking 
both  in  public,  and  both  seem  to  be  a  part  of 
your  religion,"  I  answered.  "  Very  likely 
you  are  right.  There  is  about  us  this  taint 
of  hypocrisy;  but  that  only  shows  that  we 
are  a  deeply  religious  people,  conscious  of 


40     Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

the  fact  that  our  ideals  are  upon  a  higher 
plane  than  our  performance.  We  are  not  as 
eager  as  you  are  to  proclaim  our  frailties 
from  the  housetop. 

"  The  average  American  wants  you  to  be 
lieve  him  to  be  a  pretty  decent  fellow  till  you 
find  him  out  to  be  different ;  while  you  Ger 
mans  make  a  virtue  of  a  certain  kind  of 
brutal  frankness,  which  is  worse  than  hypoc 
risy,  since  you  try  to  make  it  an  excuse  for 
all  sorts  of  private  and  national  sins.  The 
real  criminal  is  never  a  hypocrite." 

I  do  not  know  what  would  have  hap 
pened  to  me  if  at  that  moment  we  had 
not  reached  St.  Patrick's  Cathedral.  The 
full,  rich  organ  notes  seemed  to  soothe 
the  Herr  Director's  ruffled  spirit,  and  our 
discussion  ended  as  we  entered  the  welcom 
ing  portal. 

In  a  church  which  in  all  places  and  all 
ages  remains  the  same,  there  was  nothing 
for  my  guests  to  see  or  hear  to  which  they 
were  not  accustomed.  There  was  the  priest, 
alone  with  the  great  mystery  which  he  was 
enacting,  and  by  his  side  the  diminutive 


Our  National  Creed  41 

ministrants.  The  crowd  which  filled  every 
available  space  in  that  huge  interior  was 
silent  and  reverent.  Now  the  tinkling  of  a 
bell,  like  a  command  from  Heaven,  bade  all 
kneel,  and  now  the  same  bell  bade  them  rise. 
The  incense,  the  stately  chant,  and  then  the 
hushed,  expectant  throng  going  forward  to 
partake  from  the  priest's  hand  of  the  means 
of  grace,  which  he  alone  could  offer  in  the 
name  of  the  one  Holy  Catholic  Church — 
all  this  could  not  fail  to  impress  us. 

Into  the  august  and  solemn  atmosphere 
there  came  from  a  near-by  church  the  chimed 
notes  of  a  hymn-tune  such  as  the  people 
once  sang  defiantly  when  they  proclaimed 
their  religious  freedom.  It  was  a  spiritual 
war  tune  which  soldiers  could  sing,  and 
strangely  enough  it  seemed  to  fit  into  this 
atmosphere  as  if  it  were  the  one  thing  which 
the  service  needed.  It  recalled  the  self-as 
sertion  of  the  people  before  their  God,  their 
man  God,  who  was  born  in  a  stable,  who 
worshipped  as  He  worked,  and  worked  as  He 
worshipped,  hurling  His  anathemas  at  those 
who  blocked  the  gates  of  the  kingdom  to 


42     Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

them  who  would  enter,  yet  did  not  enter 
themselves. 

Evidently  the  Herr  Director  felt  as  I  felt ; 
for  he  whispered  to  me,  "  The  Reformation." 
When  I  nodded  my  approval,  he  said  :  "  But 
see  how  unmoved  she  is,  this  rock-founded 
church.  It  will  take  something  more  than 
hymn-tunes  to  disturb  her." 

We  left  the  Cathedral  while  the  hungry 
multitude  was  being  fed  with  the  Sacrament 
of  our  Lord,  and  our  spirits,  too,  had  been 
fed,  although  we  were  not  of  that  fold. 

While  the  Roman  Catholics  were  finishing 
their  worship,  the  Protestants  were  making 
ready  to  begin.  The  first  bells  had  chimed 
appealingly,  not  commandingly,  and  a  thin 
stream  of  worshippers  appeared  on  the 
Avenue,  growing  thinner  as  it  divided,  en 
tering  one  or  the  other  of  those  edifices 
where  men  were  to  worship  according  to 
the  dictates  of  their  conscience,  their  taste, 
or  their  social  position. 

Many  strangers,  like  ourselves,  were  look 
ing  critically  at  the  church  bulletins  as 
yesterday  we  had  looked  into  the  show 


Our  National  Creed  43 

windows,  and  it  was  the  Frau  Directorin 
who  said  she  felt  as  if  she  were  going  shop 
ping  for  religion. 

The  Herr  Director  said  that  he  had  no 
objection  to  our  inventing  or  importing  as 
many  religions  as  we  pleased;  but  he  did 
object  to  our  exporting  any,  for  we  were 
making  the  task  of  regulating  and  control 
ling  them  very  difficult.  Moreover  he  did 
not  see  how  we  could  develop  any  kind  of 
common,  national  ideals  with  such  a  con 
fusion  of  religions.  "  You  have,  or  pretend 
to  have,  a  democratic  government,  and 
your  strongest  church  is  monarchic  to  the 
core.'1 

I  had  to  admit  that  religiously  we  are  a 
very  chaotic  people,  and  that  we  are  daily 
adding  to  that  chaos  ;  yet  these  facts  might 
prove  what  I  had  been  trying  to  make  clear 
to  him :  That  this  is  fundamentally  a  religious 
country,  and  that  as  a  whole  we  are  the  most 
religious  people  in  the  world.  I  supported 
this  statement  by  quoting  a  good  German 
authority,  the  late  Prof.  Karl  Lamprecht, 
who  thinks  we  have  a  great  future  as  a 


44     Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

people,  because  we  are  "  capable  of  religious 
improvement." 

"  Improvement !  "  The  Herr  Director 
sniffed  derisively.  "Wherever  I  look  I  see 
improvements :  churches  turned  into  theaters, 
theaters  into  churches,  and  residences  which 
are  still  perfectly  good  turned  into  sky 
scrapers.  Chaos  is  not  an  improvement 
upon  order.  Nothing  is  finished,  nothing 
complete,  not  even  your  religion." 

Just  then  we  were  compelled  to  pass  along 
a  wooden  walk  from  which  we  looked  into 
a  canyon  blasted  out  of  the  rock,  upon  which 
still  stood  the  foundation  of  the  house  which 
was  being  turned  into  a  sky-scraper. 

"  You  see,  that  is  the  way  we  improve ; 
we  go  deeper  each  time,"  I  remarked. 

"But  in  religion,"  the  Herr  Director  re 
torted,  "  you  do  not  go  deeper,  you  go 
higher,  and  that  is  no  improvement." 

For  the  second  time  the  chimes  were 
pealing,  and  we  entered  a  sanctuary  of 
friendly  yet  dignified  English  Gothic.  An 
usher,  who  looked  very  American  and  well 
fed  and  out  of  place,  guided  us  to  a  pew 


Our  National  Creed  45 

in  the  more  than  half  empty  church,  from 
which  nothing  was  missing  in  the  way  of 
ecclesiastical  furnishings.  One  thing  it 
lacked  and  that  no  architect  can  build  and 
no  money  can  buy — Spirit. 

The  organ  was  played  by  a  master,  the 
processional  was  splendidly  staged,  the  rector 
looked  prosperously  pious,  prayers  were  read 
and  confessions  uttered  without  any  dis 
quieting,  spiritual  agony,  and  the  anthems 
were  correctly  sung  by  the  picturesque  boys' 
choir.  The  curate  preached  a  sermon  on 
manliness ;  a  sermon  so  thin  and  emasculated 
that  even  the  Frau  Directorin,  whose  English 
is  limited,  could  understand  it,  and  said  she 
would  like  to  come  again  "  for  the  good 
English." 

I  left  the  church  deeply  disappointed,  and 
to  the  Herr  Director's  taunts  about  "improve 
ments  "  I  did  not  reply,  realizing  more  than 
ever  how  difficult  and  dangerous  is  this  task 
of  introducing  the  Spirit,  especially  when 
one  goes  to  church  in  the  spirit  of  pride, 
rather  than  in  the  spirit  of  meekness. 

No  clergyman  can  spoil  the  whole  of  Sun- 


46     Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

day,  for  there  is  always  the  dinner,  and  having 
found  a  table  d'hdte  in  harmony  with  the 
Herr  Director's  national  and  religious  ideals, 
we  continued  our  discussion  somewhat  fit 
fully,  if,  at  times,  rather  vehemently. 

One  of  the  things  the  Herr  Director  missed 
in  the  church  where  we  tried  to  worship  was 
reverence.  He  missed  it  everywhere  and 
thought  it  due  to  the  fact  that  we  do  not 
teach  religion  in  the  public  schools. 

This  was  rather  amusing  to  me,  for  just 
prior  to  that  statement  he  had  told  me  of  one 
of  his  nephews  who,  upon  approaching  his 
final  examinations,  said :  "If  it  were  not  for 
this  accursed  religion  I  could  get  through 
without  trouble  ; "  and  I  called  his  attention 
to  the  fact  that  although  I  had  no  difficulty 
with  my  "  exams  "  in  religion,  invariably  hav 
ing  an  "  Ausgeseichnet"  which  is  equivalent 
to  an  A,  I  was  always  "Schlecht "  in  conduct. 

I  had  found  religious  instruction  a  very 
irreligious  procedure,  for  the  man  who  taught 
it  was  irreligious  enough  to  whip  me  so  that 
I  could  not  lie  upon  my  back  for  a  week, 
the  cause  being  that  I  would  not  say  yes  to 


Our  National  Creed  47 

his  credo.  Moreover  I  told  the  Herr  Director 
I  thought  all  religious  instruction  irreligious 
which  did  not  teach  the  child  its  whole  duty 
to  society,  but  taught  religion  from  only  the 
narrowing  racial  or  sectarian  standpoint. 

Religion,  I  pointed  out  to  him,  can  after  all 
not  be  taught ;  it  has  to  be  caught.  It  is  a 
contagion  which  comes  from  a  spiritual  per 
sonality,  and  our  public  schools  are  not  relig 
ious  or  irreligious  because  certain  subjects 
are  found  or  not  found  in  their  curricula,  but 
because  the  teachers  have  this  spiritual  per 
sonality  or  lack  it.  I  am  convinced  that  this 
ethical  quality  predominates  in  our  public 
schools,  not  only  because  so  many  of  our 
teachers  are  women,  but  because  we  are 
fundamentally  a  religious  people. 

At  this  point  I  became  conscious  that  the 
attention  of  the  Herr  Director  and  the  Frau 
Directorin  had  flagged ;  for  their  response  to 
my  homily  was  an  eloquent  tribute  to  the 
tenderness  of  the  breast  of  a  Long  Island 
duck,  which  they  had  been  enjoying  while  I 
talked.  As  they  were  consequently  in  a 
lenient  mood  towards  the  whole  world  and 


48      Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

therefore  the  United  States,  I  renewed  my 
laudable  and  difficult  effort,  and,  as  is  often 
best,  through  the  medium  of  a  story. 

At  the  time  the  elective  system  was  intro 
duced  into  Harvard  University,  attendance 
upon  chapel  was  made  voluntary.  "  I  under- 
stand,"  said  a  severe  critic  of  this  procedure, 
"  that  you  have  made  God  elective  in  your 
college." 

"  No,"  replied  the  astute  president,  "  I  un 
derstand  that  God  has  made  Himself  elective 
everywhere." 

The  point  of  my  story  was  lost  upon  both 
my  guests.  When  I  paused,  the  Frau  Di- 
rectorin  asked  me  how  it  was  possible  to 
serve  so  lavish  a  bill  of  fare  for  so  little 
money,  and  the  Herr  Director  asked  the 
waiter  why  they  called  this  a  Long  Island 
duck  when  the  portions  were  so  short.  Thus 
the  conviction  was  forced  upon  me  that  our 
environment  was  not  conducive  to  the  dis 
cussion  of  the  American  Spirit  and  that  I 
must  await  a  more  auspicious  occasion. 

Late  in  the  afternoon  that  occasion  came  ; 
not  on  Fifth  Avenue  but  on  one  of  those 


Our  National  Creed  49 

streets  where  churches  are  fewest  and  hu 
manity  thickest;  where  Sunday  brings  lib 
eration  from  toil,  where  cleanliness  and 
godliness  have  an  equally  difficult  task  in 
coming  or  abiding ;  where  nations  and  races 
must  mingle  and  cannot  easily  blend,  where 
the  America  which  is  to  be  is  in  the  making, 
and  where  the  Spirit  must  manifest  itself  if 
we  are  to  be  a  nation  with  common  ideals. 

I  like  to  take  my  friends  to  the  East  Side 
of  New  York  City.  I  glory  in  its  self-respect, 
its  brave  struggle  against  poverty  and  dis 
ease,  its  bright  children  filling  all  the  avail 
able  space  and  asserting  their  childhood  by 
playing  in  the  busy  streets,  defying  its  noisy 
traffic.  They  make  of  each  hurdy-gurdy  the 
center  of  a  great  festival,  dancing  as  the  elves 
are  said  to  dance,  because  it  is  their  nature  to. 

I  like  to  point  out  the  faces  of  Patriarchs, 
Prophets  and  Madonnas — faces  seamed  by 
care  and  sorrow,  yet  lighted  by  a  divine  radi 
ance  and  as  unconscious  of  it  as  were  those 
upon  whom  it  shone  in  such  fullness  on  that 
great  East  Side  of  the  Universe  which  we 
now  call  the  Holy  Land. 


50     Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

I  like  to  have  my  friends  meet  my  East 
Side  friends,  the  young  working  girls,  who 
dress  in  good  taste,  help  support  a  family, 
and  maintain  an  unstained  character  in  spite 
of  small  wages  and  the  temptations  of  a  great 
city.  I  like  them  to  meet  the  growing  boys 
who  are  hungry  for  the  best  the  city  holds, 
and  who  dream  the  dream  of  making  the 
East  Side  in  particular,  and  New  York  in 
general,  a  better  place  in  which  to  live. 

I  am  never  ashamed  to  take  my  friends 
into  the  tenement  houses,  except  as  I  am 
ashamed  that  they  exist  at  all,  with  their 
stenches  and  the  dearly  bought  space  with 
twenty-four  hours  of  darkness  and  no  free 
access  of  air.  Of  the  people  who  live  within 
I  am  never  ashamed,  for  they  are  the  brave 
ones,  to  whom  labor  is  prayer,  and  living  a 
sacrifice.  I  like  best  to  show  off  the  East 
Side  of  New  York  on  Sunday,  for  here  it  is 
most  welcomed  with  its  respite  from  labor,  its 
chance  at  clean  clothes,  its  opportunity  to 
visit  and  be  again  something  more  than  a 
machine. 

On  Fifth  Avenue  the  Sabbath  is  made  for 


Our  National  Creed  51 

the  few,  on  the  East  Side  it  is  made  for  the 
many;  on  Fifth  Avenue  God  seems  hard  to 
find,  on  the  East  Side  He  comes  down  upon 
the  street.  They  are  indeed  worse  than  inn- 
dels  who  do  not  feel  His  Spirit  brooding  over 
the  crowd,  and  His  guardian  angels  watch 
ing  over  those  children — else  how  could  they 
survive?  Best  of  all  I  know  where  those 
Angels  live,  and  it  is  there  I  took  the  Herr 
Director  and  the  Frau  Directorin ;  I  was  sure 
they  would  never  leave  the  place  doubting 
that  we  are  a  religious  people.  Evidently 
the  children  also  knew  where  their  Angels 
live  for  the  place  was  in  a  state  of  siege.  It 
is  not  strange  that  they  knew,  for  their  an 
cestors  had  walked  and  talked  with  angels, 
and  they  were  not  yet  old  enough  to  have 
lost  the  faith  of  their  fathers.  Troops  of  chil 
dren  there  were ;  mere  children  carrying  chil 
dren,  and  where  there  was  an  only  child, 
which  is  rare  on  the  East  Side,  it  was  brought 
by  a  grandfather  and  grandmother,  children 
themselves  now,  and  old  enough  to  again 
believe  in  angels. 

There  were  flowers  in  the  room  and  they 


52     Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

were  for  the  children ;  bowers  of  roses,  red 
roses,  wafting  their  incense  and  driving  out 
the  mouldy,  tenement  house  air  which  clung 
to  the  little  ones.  There  was  music,  and 
they  sang — sang  as  I  know  God  wanted 
them  to  sing — gay,  happy  songs,  which 
seem  to  be  denied  the  children  who  sing  in 
the  churches. 

How  I  wished  that  the  picturesque  little 
choir  boys  on  Fifth  Avenue,  who  sang 
sixteenth  century  music  and  Augustinian 
theology,  might  have  had  a  chance  to  sing 
as  those  East  Side  children  sang — full 
throated,  lustily,  joyously ;  songs  which  made 
them  shiver  from  very  joy,  and  which  made 
the  Frau  Directorin  weep  copiously. 

How  I  wished  that  the  priest  who  chanted 
Psalms  in  Latin,  and  the  other  priest  who 
intoned  them  in  English  as  dead  as  Latin, 
could  have  been  there  and  have  heard  those 
children  recite  the  same  Psalms,  in  East  Side 
English.  Yes,  I  have  often  wished  that  David 
himself  might  hear  them  ;  I  am  sure  he  would 
be  proud  that  he  had  a  share  in  writing  them, 
even  as  the  priests  might  be  ashamed  that 


Our  National  Creed  53 

they  had  never  known  just  what  precious 
reading  they  are. 

No  one  preached  to  the  children  although 
they  heard  the  good  tidings,  and  no  one  told 
them  to  be  good  although  they  were  given  a 
chance  to  know  how  good  God  is,  when  men 
give  Him  a  chance. 

There  was  a  sacrament,  a  holy  one  ;  roses 
were  given  the  children,  and  the  Angels  who 
gave  them  shed  their  blood,  for  the  roses  had 
thorns.  The  next  week  the  children  were  to 
be  taken  where  the  roses  grew,  and  they 
would  see  that 

"  A  garden  is  a  lovesome  thing,  God  wot  I 
Rose  plot, 
Fringed  pool, 
Fern'd  grot  — 
The  veriest  school 
Of  Peace:—" 

But  they  would  not  have  to  see  the  garden 
to  know  that  God  is. 

We  broke  bread  with  the  Angels  and 
looked  into  their  joyously  weary  faces,  and 
then  we  talked  about  the  very  thing  I  wanted 
my  guests  to  know,  namely:  That  underneath 
all  our  religious  or  rather  credal  chaos,  we 


54     Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

have  a  national  creed  if  not  a  national 
religion. 

The  Herr  Director  suggested  that  the 
fundamental  doctrine  of  our  creed  is  "in 
gold  we  trust,"  and  then  he  began  a  disserta 
tion  upon  our  national  materialism. 

Perhaps  so,  I  conceded ;  but  I  doubted 
that  we  are  more  materialistic  than  the 
people  of  the  older  world,  in  fact  I  was  in 
clined  to  believe  that  we  are  less  so  ;  which 
of  course  the  Herr  Director  stoutly  denied, 
and  I  as  stoutly  affirmed.  In  justice  to  my 
self  I  must  say  that  when  my  country's 
honor  is  not  at  stake  I  am  less  dogmatic. 

"Perhaps  we  are  equally  materialistic," 
I  continued,  "but  we  are  certainly  more 
generous.  We  make  money  faster  than 
the  people  of  the  Old  World,  but  we  also 
give  it  away  faster,  and  I  believe  that  there 
is  no  country  in  which  there  is  such  a  con 
tempt  for  the  merely  rich  man." 

"I  suppose  the  second  article  in  your 
national  creed,"  the  Herr  Director  inter 
rupted,  "  is  that  you  are  the  biggest  country 
and  the  best  people  under  the  Sun. 


Our  National  Creed  55 

MI 
"  If  I  were  suggesting  a  motto  for  a  new 

coinage  I  would  put  on  one  side  of  it  '  In 
Gold  We  Trust/  and  on  the  other  'The 
Biggest  and  The  Best.' " 

Ignoring  this  somewhat  merited  slur  I 
said :  "  The  first  and  only  doctrine  of  our 
national  creed  which  we  have  as  yet  formu 
lated  is  that  we  have  a  great  national 
destiny." 

At  that  the  Herr  Director  jumped  excitedly 
from  his  seat,  and  said  somewhat  sneeringly, 
"  Oh,  you  mean  you  have  a  place  under  the 
Sun.  All  nations  have  such  a  creed,  but 
when  we  Germans  try  to  realize  it,  you  call 
us  a  menace  to  civilization." 

It  was  a  tense  moment  in  my  relationship 
to  my  guests,  but  I  ventured  to  say :  "  We 
have  a  better  reason  for  the  faith  which  is  in 
us  than  most  other  nations,  for  we  are  trying 
to  realize  it  without  killing  off  other  people. 
In  fact  we  are  trying  to  realize  it  at  a  greater 
hazard  than  that  of  being  conquered  by  an 
alien  enemy.  We  are  keeping  open  these 
doors  which  have  swung  both  ways  freely, 
for  nearly  three  hundred  years,  and  your 


56     Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

Old  World  weary  ones  have  been  coming  ; 
bringing  their  traditions,  their  ideals,  their 
worn  out  faiths  and  their  heaped  up  wrath. 
We  did  not  forbid  them  ;  they  have  come  to 
our  towns,  our  schools,  our  homes,  they  are 
here  for  better  for  worse,  and  we  cannot 
divorce  them,  or  drive  them  away. 

"  Yes,"  I  continued,  much  to  the  discom 
fiture  of  the  Herr  Director,  "we  have  a 
meaning  to  the  Old  World,  a  larger  mean 
ing  than  you  think.  We  have  a  place  under 
the  Sun,  not  to  satisfy  national  ambitions; 
but  to  keep  alive  faith  in  humanity." 

The  Angels  around  the  table  were  dis 
quieted  by  our  vehemence,  the  Frau  Di- 
rectorin  urged  that  it  was  growing  late,  and 
we  left  that  center  of  quiet  which  we  had  so 
disturbed,  to  return  to  our  hotel.  We  en 
tered  a  street  car  crowded  beyond  its  capac 
ity  by  burly  Irishmen  the  worse  for  liquor, 
good-natured  Slavs  none  the  better  for  it, 
aggressive  looking  Russian  Jews  and  sleek 
Chinamen.  There  were  mothers  with  their 
crying  babies,  and  thoughtless  boys  and 
girls  chewing  gum  most  viciously.  After 


Our  National  Creed  57 

the  Herr  Director  and  the  Frau  Directorin 
had  been  jostled  unmercifully,  we  left  the 
uncomfortable  car,  and  when  we  were  again 
breathing  unpolluted  air  the  Herr  Director 
asked  quizzically : 

"  Do  you  still  believe  in  humanity  ?  " 
Boldly  and  bravely  I  answered  :  "  Yes,  I 
believe,"  and  lifting  my  face  to  the  stars  I 
whispered :  "  Lord,  help  my  unbelief." 


Ill 

The  Spirit  Out-of-Doors 

MUCH  to  my  regret  the  Herr  Di 
rector  did  not  sleep  well  that 
second  night  in  the  United 
States.  His  nerves  had  suffered  from  those 
first  thronging  impressions,  he  looked  pale 
and  was  decidedly  irritable  ;  "  for  how  could 
a  man  sleep  or  be  expected  to  sleep  in  this 
business  canyon,  loud  from  the  thunder  of 
the  elevated,  and  bright  from  the  flashing  of 
illuminated  signs  ?  "  Together  they  had  the 
effect  of  an  electric  storm  upon  him. 

When  he  did  fall  asleep  he  dreamed  that 
the  Metropolitan  Tower,  the  Woolworth 
Building  and  St.  Patrick's  Cathedral  were 
dancing  Tango  upon  his  chest. 

This  nightmare  may  have  been  due  to  the 
fact  that  just  before  retiring  we  witnessed  an 
exhibition  of  this  modern  madness,  which 
seemed  to  be  indulged  in  everywhere  except 

58 


The  Spirit  Out-of -Doors          59 

in  the  churches  and  possibly  the  barber 
shops.  Partly  also,  perhaps,  because  the 
Herr  Director  insisted  upon  eating  lobster 
shortly  before  midnight,  in  spite  of  the  fact 
that  I  warned  him  against  that  indulgence. 
It  was  one  of  those  generous,  United  States 
lobsters,  and  not  the  diminutive  shell-fish 
with  which  cultured  Europeans  merely  tickle 
their  palates. 

The  Herr  Director  had  repeatedly  pointed 
out  our  bad  habit  of  leaving  a  great  deal  of 
food  on  our  plates,  and  to  impress  upon  me 
his  better  manners,  he  had  eaten  the  entire 
lobster. 

I  had  not  slept  well  that  night  either,  in 
spite  of  the  fact  that  I  had  eaten  sparingly. 
I  think  it  was  the  Herr  Director  himself  who 
had  "  got  on  my  nerves,"  and  I  was  finding 
this  task  of  "showing  off  "  my  beloved  United 
States  difficult  and  exacting. 

That  morning  we  were  to  leave  New  York 
and  I  would  introduce  my  guests  to  the  great 
American  out-of-doors,  and  the  prospect 
added  to  my  already  uncomfortable  frame 
of  mind. 


60     Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

If  only  we  might  start  from  that  marvellous 
Central  Station  in  the  heart  of  the  city  ;  but 
in  order  to  reach  our  destination,  which  was 
Lake  Mohonk,  we  had  to  cross  the  West  Side 
where  it  is  irredeemably  tawdry  and  ugly,  and 
take  one  of  the  ferry-boats  to  Weehawken. 
This  somewhat  inconvenient  procedure  made 
the  Herr  Director  doubly  critical. 

The  Fates  were  against  us,  for  it  was  a 
hot,  humid  day,  the  car  was  crowded,  and 
the  start  from  Weehawken  anything  but 
auspicious. 

In  Europe  the  Herr  Director  travels  second 
class  when  he  travels  officially  (the  first,  as 
is  well  known,  being  reserved  for  Americans 
and  fools),  and  third  when  he  travels  incog 
nito,  for  he  is  a  thrifty  soul.  Nevertheless,  he 
did  not  like  our  cars,  they  were  "  obtrusively 
decorated,"  and  privacy  was  impossible. 
Why  should  he  have  to  look  at  a  hundred 
or  more  human  heads  variously  "frisired"  ? 

I  suggested  that  we  take  seats  in  front, 
which  we  succeeded  in  doing,  and  then  he 
found  that  if  he  wished  to  take  off  his  collar, 
he  would  have  to  do  it  with  two  hundred  or 


The  Spirit  Out-of-Doors          61 

more  human  eyes  fastened  upon  him,  when 
the  hundred  people  possessing  them  had  no 
business  to  see  what  he  was  doing. 

I  have  already  confessed  how  sensitive  I 
am  to  criticism  of  anything  American,  no 
matter  how  just  the  criticism  may  be.  So 
sensitive  am  I,  that  had  he  reflected  upon 
the  good  looks  of  my  wife,  he  could  scarcely 
have  hurt  me  more  than  when  he  reflected 
upon  the  beauty  and  arrangement  of  an 
American  railway  car. 

And  yet  I  have  often  wondered  why  our 
American  genius  seems  to  have  exhausted 
itself  when  it  evolved  the  present  type  of 
car,  having  done  nothing  to  it  except  adding 
or  taking  away  some  of  its  "  gingerbread." 
Nevertheless  I  lost  my  patience  and  told  him 
that  if  he  liked  to  travel  cooped  in  with  seven 
other  passengers,  four  of  whom  he  must  face 
and  two  of  whom  might  at  any  moment  poke 
their  elbows  into  his  ribs ;  if  he  preferred  to 
breathe  air  polluted  by  seven  other  people, 
and  have  a  fresh  supply  of  ozone  only  at 
periods  and  in  quantities  regulated  by  law, 
I  did  not  admire  his  taste.  As  far  as  I  was 


62     Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

concerned  I  preferred  to  travel  in  this  big 
room  on  wheels,  rather  than  in  a  jail-like 
box  to  which  the  conductor  alone  had  the 
key.  Anyway  this  represented  American  de 
mocracy  with  its  unpartitioned  space ;  but  if 
he  really  wanted  it,  I  could  get  him  a  state 
room  in  the  Pullman,  and  he  could  ride  in 
isolated  splendor  and  be  aristocratically 
stuffy  and  uncomfortable. 

When  the  Frau  Directorin  in  typical  Ger 
man  phraseology  complained  about  the 
draft :  "  Urn  Gottes  Willen  ein  Zug ! "  I 
decided  to  save  the  day,  and  we  retreated 
to  the  Pullman  stateroom. 

There  they  rested  themselves  back  and 
looked  tolerably  happy  while  I,  silently  but 
fervently,  prayed  that  this  particular  train 
would  not  disgrace  itself  by  "committing" 
an  accident. 

The  big,  American  out-of-doors,  even 
where  it  is  old  and  its  waste  spaces  are 
cultivated  and  hedged  about,  has  some 
thing  which  is  characteristically  American. 
Of  course  nature  knows  no  political  bound 
ary  ;  the  grass  is  green  everywhere,  the 


The  Spirit  Out-of -Doors          63 

sky  is  blue,  cattle  and  sheep,  like  man,  have 
a  long  and  honorable  ancestry.  Yet  there 
is  a  difference  which  may  not  be  due  to  what 
nature  is,  but  to  man's  attitude  towards  her 
and  his  treatment  of  her. 

I  have  noticed  this  in  passing  through 
Europe ;  how  unerringly  one  knows  where 
Germanic  boundaries  end  and  those  of  the 
Slav  begin.  German  fields  and  forests  are 
trim  and  orderly ;  Slavic  territory  so  ill  kept 
and  ill  used  that  when  one  has  a  glimpse  of 
a  village  even  from  the  swift  moving  train, 
the  difference  is  obvious. 

Sometimes  I  am  inclined  to  believe  that 
this  attitude  of  man  affects  his  environment 
as  much  as  we  know  the  environment  affects 
him.  I  wonder  just  how  much  of  the  Amer 
ican  out-of-doors,  with  its  generous  but  not 
gentle  aspect,  its  subdued  but  untamed  spirit, 
is  due  to  those  valiant  men  who  came  from 
across  the  sea,  and  in  so  doing  restored  a  bit 
of  their  long-lost  courage,  and  made  masters 
of  men  who  so  long  had  been  serfs  and 
knaves. 

I  had  hoped  that  the  sudden  burst  of  the 


64     Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

Hudson  upon  my  guests'  vision  would  thrill 
them  ;  but  if  they  were  thrilled,  they  were 
careful  to  conceal  it.  When  I  suggested  the 
likeness  of  the  Hudson  to  the  Rhine,  the 
Herr  Director  took  it  as  a  personal  affront 
and  said  you  might  as  well  compare  St. 
Patrick's  Cathedral  and  that  of  Cologne. 
They  are  both  churches  and  Gothic ;  the 
Hudson  and  the  Rhine  are  two  rivers,  and 
both  are  big. 

Nevertheless  I  insisted  that  there  is  an 
evident  resemblance  which  would  be  com 
plete  if  the  Hudson  had  a  ruined  castle  here 
and  there,  or  a  picturesquely  cramped  village 
huddling  against  the  hillside. 

"Yes,  and  beside  castles  and  picturesque 
villages,"  the  Herr  Director  replied  tartly, 
"  you  need  a  thousand  years  of  culture  and 
the  same  traditions  which  make  the  shores 
of  the  Rhine  sacred  to  us  ;  you  also  need 
generations  of  patiently  plodding  peasants 
who  have  made  a  sacrament  of  their  toil. 
One  glance  at  your  rotting  boats  lying 
along  the  shore,  at  the  untilled,  gaping 
spaces  and  glaring,  inartistic  sign-boards 


The  Spirit  Out-of -Doors          65 

which  disfigure  it,  is  sufficient  to  distinguish 
the  two  rivers  or  perhaps  even  the  two 
countries." 

Having  thus  forcefully  delivered  himself, 
he  scornfully  pointed  out  the  waste  places 
and  the  unkempt-looking  fields,  asking  me 
whether  I  still  dared  compare  anything  in 
this  out-of-doors  with  the  fine  economy  and 
splendid  supervision  of  the  natural  resources 
of  his  own  country. 

Shamefacedly  I  acknowledged  my  country's 
guilt,  and  the  guilt  which  was  evident  on  the 
majestic  shores  of  the  Hudson.  We  are 
wasteful,  extravagant  and  reckless — great 
defects  in  our  national  spirit,  and  most  in 
evidence  in  our  treatment  of  nature's  beauty 
and  wealth.  We  shall  have  to  remedy  that, 
in  fact  we  are  just  beginning  to  do  it ;  if  not 
from  any  sense  of  guilt,  from  the  same  sheer 
necessity  which  makes  the  nations  of  the  Old 
World  careful  of  their  national  wealth. 

"The  Conservation  of  our  National  Re 
sources  "  is  a  fine  phrase ;  it  represents  not 
only  an  economic,  but  a  spiritual  gain — this 
feeling  of  responsibility  for  the  next  genera- 


66     Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

tion.  It  is  a  new  and  most  valuable  asset  of 
our  national  spirit ;  yet  I  must  confess  that 
I  fear  the  coming  of  a  day  when  we,  too, 
shall  have  to  practice  the  sordid  little  econ 
omies  of  the  Old  World  and  think  with  anx 
iety  about  the  to-morrow. 

It  has  always  seemed  to  me  that  here  the 
miracle  of  the  loaves  and  fishes  might  be  per 
formed  indefinitely,  and  that  there  always 
would  be  left  over  the  baskets  full  of  frag 
ments.  Somehow,  in  common  with  the  rest 
of  mankind,  I  have  associated  generous  plenty 
with  the  American  spirit,  and  I  trust  we  shall 
never  have  just  our  dole  and  no  more. 

I  recall  walking  one  evening  with  the  Herr 
Director  and  the  Frau  Directorin  through  the 
well-regulated,  officially  trimmed  and  "Streng 
Verboten"  forest  which  encircles  his  native 
city.  My  children  were  with  us — young, 
vigorous,  American  savages,  who  have  a 
superabundance  of  the  American  spirit  al 
though  they  have  not  a  drop  of  American 
blood  in  their  veins.  We  passed  a  small 
mound  of  freshly  mown  hay  and  they 
promptly  jumped  into  it,  tossing  a  few  hand- 


The  Spirit  Out-of-Doors          67 

fuls  as  an  offering  to  their  aboriginal  deity, 
the  wind.  If  they  had  dashed  into  the  plate- 
glass  window  of  a  jeweler's  shop  or  had 
desecrated  the  most  holy  shrine,  they  could 
not  have  caused  greater  consternation. 

"  Urn  Gottes  Himmels  Willen  die  Polizei!" 
cried  the  Herr  Director  and  the  Frau  Direct- 
orin  echoed  :  "  Die  Polizei  !  " 

Although  this  happened  about  ten  years 
ago,  my  children  have  not  forgotten  their 
fright. 

I  suppose  we  still  lack  this  virtue  of  econ 
omy,  and  yet  I  hope  we  may  not  lose  that 
certain  largeness  of  nature  and  that  gener 
osity  of  spirit  which  have  characterized  us. 

I  love  the  generous  spaces,  the  unfenced 
lawns,  which  make  of  the  whole  village  one 
common  park ;  the  grass  and  clover  free  to 
the  touch  of  our  children's  feet,  the  fragrant 
flowers  wasting  their  bloom,  and  berries  and 
cherries  enough  for  the  wild  things  of  the 
woods.  May  the  future  not  bring  more  high 
walls  and  narrow  lanes,  big  game  preserves 
for  the  rich,  and  scant  patches  of  soil 
for  the  poor;  castles  for  capital  and  tene- 


68     Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

ments  for  labor.  And  may  we  never  see 
written  over  every  blade  of  grass :  "  Streng 
Verboten" 

I  realized  that  the  Herr  Director  spoke  truly 
when  he  said  that  what  we  lack  over  here  is 
a  healthy  class  spirit,  which  the  German 
farmer  has.  A  sort  of  pride  in  his  calling 
which  makes  him  care  for  the  soil  and  nour 
ish  it  with  a  lover's  passion.  To  him  robbing 
the  soil  is  as  great  a  crime  as  it  would  be  to 
rob  his  children.  It  is  not  only  the  Emperor 
who  regards  himself  as  a  partner  with  God, 
and  sometimes  the  senior  partner  ;  the  com 
monest,  poorest  peasant  is  apt  to  say  as  he 
drenches  his  field  with  the  accumulated  com 
post:  "Ich  und  Gott." 

Speaking  of  the  farmer,  the  Herr  Director 
admitted  that  in  Germany  as  elsewhere  there 
is  a  trend  to  the  city;  but  the  tide  is  held 
back  by  the  pride  of  the  German  farmer, 
who  glories  in  having  his  traditions,  his  folk 
songs,  and,  above  all,  this  sense  of  partner 
ship  with  God. 

We  scarcely  have  such  a  thing  as  a  farmer 
class ;  we  have  merely  merchandizers  in  dirt 


The  Spirit  Out-of-Doors          69 

who  sell  not  only  the  products  of  the  soil,  but 
unhesitatingly  the  soil  itself. 

The  land  which  we  see  from  the  car  win 
dow,  which  the  pioneers  won  from  this  bound 
less  space,  these  houses  and  sheltering  groves, 
the  homesteads  in  which  a  great  race  was 
cradled,  are  all  for  sale,  now  that  the  soil  is 
robbed  of  its  fertility  and  the  robbers  have 
moved  on  to  repeat  the  process  elsewhere. 
We  are  doing  something,  he  admitted,  to 
stem  the  tide  to  the  cities ;  we  are  introduc 
ing  agricultural  training  into  our  public 
schools  and  are  making  the  raising  of  corn 
and  wheat  a  science,  but  not  as  yet  a  sacra 
ment. 

We  stayed  over  night  in  one  of  the  half- 
asleep  towns  on  the  shores  of  the  river,  a 
town  whose  history  is  written  upon  the  head 
stones  in  the  cemetery,  in  the  center  of  which 
the  stately  meeting-house  stands.  We  met 
the  descendants  of  those  who  sleep  there, 
whose  pride  lies  in  the  fact  that  their  fore 
fathers  were  the  pioneers  who  fought  the 
Indians,  the  fevers  and  each  other.  Their 
houses  are  full  of  old  furniture  shipped  from 


jo     Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

England  and  Holland,  and  we  ate  their  food 
and  drank  their  tea  from  costly  silver  and 
exquisite  china  which  they  have  inherited. 

We  looked  upon  the  portraits  of  their  an 
cestors  and  were  told  of  their  virtues  and 
their  fame;  we  saw  fine  memorials  to  the 
past  in  churches  and  town  halls  and  rode  in 
their  automobiles,  to  see  the  farms  be 
queathed  to  them.  One  thing,  alas!  they 
have  not  and  never  will  have — descendants. 

On  one  of  the  farms  we  saw  a  swarthy 
Italian  with  a  bright  red  rose  behind  his  ear. 
His  wife  and  children  were  working  with  him 
in  the  field,  and  they  were  doing  this  strange 
thing  as  they  pulled  weeds  from  the  onion 
beds — they  were  singing.  The  Herr  Di 
rector  said  significantly,  "These  are  the 
heirs  to  all  this,"  and  I  think  he  was  a  true 
prophet. 

It  is  a  wonderful  thing  to  invent  agricul 
tural  machinery  and  to  discover  new  methods 
by  which  two  blades  of  grass  can  be  made 
to  grow  where  but  one  grew  ;  yet  if  only 
some  one  could  tune  our  dull  American  ears, 
so  that  our  farmers  might  catch  the  melody 


The  Spirit  Out-of-Doors          71 

of  the  singing  land  and  sing  with  it ;  if  our 
boys  and  girls  would  love  wild  roses  well 
enough  to  wear  them — if,  and  that  is  a  very 
big  if — some  one  could  teach  us  Americans 
to  be  proud  of  having  descendants,  we  might 
add  a  new  note  to  the  great  American  out-of- 
doors,  and  keep  it  American. 

That  night  we  sat  upon  a  wide  verandah, 
overlooking  a  valley  through  which  the 
Hudson  rolled  majestically  ;  we  saw  popu 
lous  cities,  picturesque  villages  and  bounte 
ous  farms ;  we  looked  into  the  heart  of  the 
out-of-doors  and  I  was  proud  of  it  and  of 
its  free  people,  who  ought  to  be  a  grateful 
people.  There  was  deep  silence  everywhere ; 
no  sound  except  that  of  the  birds,  and  they 
did  not  sing  jubilantly  as  birds  ought  to  sing 
in  so  blessed  a  place  and  on  so  glorious  an 
evening.  No  one  sang  except  the  same 
Italian  who  was  coming  home  with  his  wife 
and  numerous  progeny.  He  still  wore  the 
rose  behind  his  ear,  although  it  had  faded. 
Those  who  sat  with  us  had  every  luxury  and 
more  money  than  they  knew  how  to  spend  ; 
but  they  could  not  sing,  for  they  were  old, 


72     Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

children  there  were  none,  and  if  there  had 
been,  they  would  not  have  been  singing — 
they  would  have  had  a  victrola. 

After  the  Italian  had  eaten  his  frugal  but 
pungent  fare  he  came  to  the  big  verandah  to 
get  his  orders  for  the  next  day,  and  the  Herr 
Director  spoke  Italian  to  him  and  he  replied 
in  that  language  which  in  itself  is  almost  a 
song.  His  mistress  asked  him  to  bring  his 
wife  and  children  to  sing  for  us.  His  wife 
did  not  come  but  the  children  came.  They 
would  not  sing  an  Italian  song,  it  is  true — that 
was  just  for  themselves,  in  the  fields  where 
only  God  heard.  They  sang  some  senti 
mental  thing  they  had  heard  in  the 
"  movies " — chewing  gum  the  while.  I 
asked  them  to  sing  something  their  teacher 
taught  them  but  they  knew  nothing  except 
"  My  Country  'tis  of  Thee "  and  the  "  Star 
Spangled  Banner,"  both  of  which  they  sang 
joylessly  and  not  understandingly.  How 
and  why  should  they  understand  when  the 
Americans  did  not  ? 

It  was  a  day  full  of  dismal  failure  in  my 
attempt  to  impress  upon  my  guests  the 


The  Spirit  Out-oJ -Doors          73 

American  spirit,  and  the  failure  of  it  was 
*  rubbed "  in   by  the    Herr   Director,  who, 
as  he  bade  me  good-night,  quoted  as  a  part 
ing  shot  this  bit  of  German  verse  : 

Und  wo  Man  singt 

Da  las  dich  froelich  nieder, 

Denn  boese  Menchen  haben  keine  Lieder." 

The  rub  was  in  his  inference  that  we  have 
no  song  because  we  have  no  noble  spirit. 


IV 

The  Spirit  at  Lake  Mohonk 

MANY  years  ago  the  Herr  Director 
and  I  were  tramping  through  the 
Hartz  Mountains  in  northern  Ger 
many.  He  had  not  yet  achieved  portliness 
and  fame ;  while  to  me,  America  was  still 
the  land  of  Indians  and  buffaloes,  and  I  had 
never  dreamed  of  going  there.  We  were 
climbing  the  Brocken,  and  that  which  thrilled 
me  more  than  its  granite  steeps  and  deeply 
mysterious  pines  was,  the  hundreds  of  school 
boys  and  girls  we  met,  singing  as  they 
climbed,  and  who,  when  they  rested,  listened 
to  their  teachers  who  stimulated  their  imagi 
nation  and  their  patriotism  by  telling  them 
the  stories  which  had  woven  themselves 
around  those  mountains. 

The   Catskills   are  not  unlike  the  Hartz, 
and  I  remarked  upon  it  as  the  Herr  Director 
and   I   were  climbing  the  Walkill   Range. 
74 


The  Spirit  at  Lake  Mohonk       75 

Our  destination  was  Lake  Mohonk,  the  scene 
of  the  Conference  for  International  Arbitra 
tion,  organized  and  supported  by  that  noble 
Quaker,  Albert  K.  Smiley ;  and  now  after  his 
death  continued  by  his  able  and  generous 
brother  Daniel  Smiley,  and  his  gracious  wife. 

The  Frau  Directorin,  with  hundreds  of 
other  guests,  had  been  met  at  the  railroad 
station  by  carriages,  this  being  one  of  the 
few  places  left  upon  earth  where  the  auto 
mobile  is  excluded. 

The  Herr  Director  was  not  climbing  as 
easily  as  he  climbed  thirty  years  ago,  and 
neither  was  I,  although  I  made  a  brave  show 
and  led  the  way,  frequently  leaving  him  in 
the  rear,  much  to  his  disgust. 

"Yes,"  he  said,  mopping  his  brow  and 
looking  about  critically,  "this  is  somewhat 
like  the  Hartz,"  and  my  heart  gave  a  joyous 
leap  at  his  admission ;  "  but  several  things 
are  missing:  Good  company,  merry  songs 
and,  above  all,  places  of  refreshment." 

Of  course  I  could  offer  him  no  better  com 
pany  than  I  was,  as  there  are  not  many 
people  in  America  who  climb  when  they  can 


76     Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

ride  for  nothing;  and  the  only  refreshment 
available  was  clear  water  from  a  shaded 
spring.  As  we  drank  he  recalled  laughingly 
how,  when  we  stopped  at  one  of  those  na 
ture's  fountains  in  the  Hartz,  a  man  who  had 
watched  us,  came  running  out  of  his  house 
and  warned  us  that  we  might  catch  cold  in 
our  stomachs,  at  the  same  time  politely 
offering  to  guide  us  to  a  place  where  we 
would  get  something  not  so  dangerously 
cold,  and  with  tempting  foam  at  the  top. 

I  have  long  ago  been  weaned  from  the 
German  custom  of  mixing  refreshments  and 
scenery ;  but  one  does  miss  the  boys  and 
girls,  the  merry,  happy  throngs,  their  senti 
mental  songs  and  their  fervent,  poetic  pa 
triotism.  Involuntarily  my  mind  reverted  to 
a  scene  the  Herr  Director  and  I  witnessed 
after  we  had  finally  reached  the  summit  of 
our  mountain  in  the  Hartz.  It  was  nearly 
evening,  and  we  could  look  far  and  wide 
above  the  forest  into  the  happy  and  beautiful 
country.  On  the  very  topmost  peak  stood  a 
corpulent  German,  surrounded  by  his  genial 
group.  He  was  reciting  with  fervor  and 


The  Spirit  at  Lake  Mohonk       77 

genuine  passion,  in  the  broadest  Berlinese 
dialect,  one  of  their  treasured  poems  which 
begins  with  these  lines : 

"  High  upon  the  hilltops  of  thy  mountains  stand  I, 
Thou  beautiful  and  mighty  Fatherland." 

If  this  should  happen  over  here,  of  which 
there  is  no  danger,  he  would  be  laughed  at, 
if  noticed  at  all ;  over  there  he  was  treated 
like  a  high  priest  who  called  the  faithful  to 
prayer. 

As  a  people  we  lack  not  only  poetic  im 
agination,  we  lack  also  this  identification  of 
our  country  with  the  best  in  nature.  Our 
youth  may  be  to  blame  for  that,  or  perhaps 
we  have  so  much  of  nature  and  so  much 
which  is  beautiful  that  we  have  not  been  able 
to  encompass  it.  Yet  there  must  be  some 
thing  very  important  lacking  in  such  Amer 
icans  as  the  one  whom  I  met  very  recently. 
He  had  just  returned  from  a  "Seeing  America 
First"  tour,  and  had  seen  everything  from 
Niagara  to  the  Big  Tree  groves  of  California. 
When  I  asked  him  what  he  thought  of  it  all 
he  said,  coolly,  "Oh!  it's  a  big  country." 


78     Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

Naturally  I  did  not  tell  this  nor  the  following 
to  the  Herr  Director. 

A  few  years  ago  I  went  with  a  group  of 
Americans  to  see  one  of  the  famous  ice 
caves  in  the  Alps.  The  accommodating 
guides  had  lighted  candles  in  the  labyrinth 
and  the  sight  was  enchanting.  One  of  my 
party,  a  dry-goods  dealer,  said  with  genuine 
enthusiasm :  "  My !  I  wish  I  could  get  such 
a  shade  of  silk  in  New  York."  The  other 
said :  "  Too  bad ;  so  much  perfectly  good 
ice  going  to  waste."  He  belonged  to  the 
much  maligned  tribe  of  ice-men.  The  rest 
of  the  men  said  nothing,  although  one  of 
them  did  remark  when  we  reached  our  hotel : 
"This  only  shows  how  slow  they  are  over 
here.  In  the  good  old  United  States  we 
would  light  that  show  with  electricity."  He 
belongs  to  the  tribe  whose  name  is  legion. 

The  Herr  Director,  as  my  readers  have 
found,  was  very  chary  of  his  praise,  in  fact 
thus  far  I  had  not  heard  a  good  word  from 
him  for  my  United  States ;  but  that  evening 
as  we  looked  from  the  Mountain  House  down 
upon  the  dark,  deep  lake,  the  rock  gardens 


The  Spirit  at  Lake  Mohonk        79 

and  the  quaint  bowers  on  every  promontory, 
granite  walls  broken  and  scattered,  and  the 
rich  valley  between  us  and  the  Catskills,  he 
did  say :  "  This  is  the  most  beautiful  spot  I 
have  ever  seen  ! " 

Of  course  his  generous  mood  was  par 
tially  gendered  by  the  unequalled  hospi 
tality  of  our  host  and  hostess  and  by  the 
sight  of  his  fellow  guests,  who  represented 
not  only  the  entire  United  States,  but  the 
United  States  at  its  best.  Moreover,  he  and 
his  wife  had  received  a  more  than  cordial 
welcome  because  they  were  representative 
foreigners  and  spoke  English  with  a  "  cute 
accent." 

I  almost  felt  a  slight  touch  of  jealousy  upon 
that  point  although  I  am  not  of  a  jealous  na 
ture.  But  I  have  noticed  this  :  to  the  degree 
that  my  English  has  improved,  to  that  degree 
I  have  become  less  interesting  to  my  Ameri 
can  friends,  so  that  I  have  sometimes  been 
tempted  to  wish  that  I  too  might  speak  Eng 
lish  with  a  "  cute  accent." 

The  happy  day  was  almost  spoiled  for  me 
by  the  discovery  that  our  trunks  had  not 


8o     Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

arrived.  The  Herr  Director  worked  himself 
into  a  frenzy  and  the  Frau  Directorin  had 
dire  forebodings  of  having  to  spend  the  three 
days  in  the  same  shirt-waist.  Telegrams 
were  sent  in  all  directions,  while  the  Herr 
Director  called  our  much  boasted  of  baggage 
system  hard  names  ;  my  "  best  laid  schemes  " 
seemed  about  to  "  gang  agley "  when  much 
to  my  relief  the  trunks  arrived,  and  I  felt 
once  more  assured  of  the  divine  favor  in  my 
most  strenuous  efforts  to  "  boost "  my  United 
States. 

The  Herr  Director  had  come  to  this  coun 
try  to  take  part  in  the  Mohonk  Conference, 
and  being  a  prudent  man,  he  submitted  his 
address  to  me.  It  was  written  with  Teutonic 
thoroughness  and  as  void  of  places  of  refresh 
ment  as  the  Sahara  Desert  or  the  Walkill 
Range  we  had  climbed. 

I  suggested  a  thorough  revision,  the  cut 
ting  out  of  many  statistics  and  resting  his 
case,  not  upon  pure  business,  but  upon  the 
higher  plane  of  pure  justice.  He  insisted 
upon  retaining  his  statistics  and  also  his  ap 
peal  to  the  selfish  and  materialistic  side  of  his 


The  Spirit  at  Lake  Mohonk        8 1 

audience ;  for  he  knew  "  something  about 
Americans  "  and  still  doubted  their  idealism. 

The  next  morning  after  breakfast  we  at 
tended  prayers,  which  is  a  part  of  the  daily 
program  of  this  hostelry,  and  presided  over 
by  the  host,  who  usually  reads  the  Scriptures, 
announces  a  hymn  and  then  leads  in  prayer. 
It  is  as  impressive  as  it  is  simple  and  digni 
fied,  and  the  Herr  Director  and  his  wife  did 
their  first  singing  in  America  when  they 
joined  in  a  hymn  whose  tune  is  an  old  Ger 
man  folk-song. 

The  program  which  followed  the  prayer 
service  was  dominated  by  specialists  in  Inter 
national  Law  and  they  were  dry  and  concise 
enough  to  suit  even  the  Herr  Director ;  while 
the  dreamers  and  agitators,  whom  he  ex 
pected  to  hear,  were  almost  altogether  un 
represented.  In  fact  they  have  grown  less  in 
this  assembly  each  year,  largely  because  it  is 
thought  that  the  whole  subject  has  reached 
the  point  when  it  is  a  practical  question  to  be 
discussed  by  men  of  affairs.  No  one  knew 
better  than  the  Herr  Director  how  inevitable 
was  the  next  great  war  and  how  far  we  were 


82      Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

from  the  practical  Court  of  International  Ar 
bitration. 

The  epilogue  to  that  great  world  drama 
had  been  spoken  in  the  Balkan,  and  spoken 
with  vehemence,  passion  and  fierce  cruelty, 
and  he  knew  its  bearing  upon  the  whole  tense 
situation  in  Europe.  Yet  I  am  sure  that  even 
he  did  not  know  how  many  nations  would  be 
involved,  nor  how  costly  and  deadly  would 
be  the  conflict.  He  did  foreshadow  in  his 
own  condemnation  of  England  and  of  Eng 
land's  foreign  policy  the  element  of  hate  be 
tween  the  two  related  nations,  which  was  to 
play  so  important  a  part  in  the  present  war. 

The  afternoon  is  playtime  at  Lake  Mo- 
honk,  and  most  generous  are  the  provisions 
for  recreation ;  but  the  Herr  Director  did  not 
ride  or  drive,  nor  play  golf  or  tennis.  He 
stayed  in  his  room  rewriting  his  paper,  hav 
ing  sensed  something  of  the  Spirit  of  Lake 
Mohonk. 

It  is  a  very  dignified  room  in  which  the 
problem  of  International  Arbitration  is  dis 
cussed,  and  although  it  never  loses  its  hos 
pitable,  home-like  air,  one  always  has  the 


The  Spirit  at  Lake  Mohonk        83 

feeling  of  being  before  a  high  tribunal,  where 
anything  but  the  most  serious  mood  seems 
out  of  place ;  although  a  jest  sometimes  re 
lieves  the  discussion. 

An  audience  of  about  four  hundred  people 
gathered  that  evening,  men  and  women  in 
varied  walks  of  life,  coming  from  all  the  states 
in  the  Union  and  from  many  foreign  coun 
tries. 

There  were  captains  of  industry  and  of  in 
fantry,  admirals  of  fleets  and  presidents  of 
colleges,  statesmen  and  politicians,  ministers, 
lawyers  and  journalists.  Their  views  ranged 
from  those  who  believe  that  war  is  an  una 
voidable  event  in  human  history,  and  that  a 
little  blood  letting  now  and  then  is  necessary 
for  the  best  of  men,  to  those  who  teach  that 
war  is  a  curse  and  that  a  certain  warrior 
who  compared  it  to  the  worst  place  which 
human  imagination  can  conceive,  might  be 
sued  for  libelling  his  Satanic  Majesty  who 
presides  over  that  place  or  state.  On  the 
whole,  they  represented  the  men  of  action 
and  men  without  illusions  although  with  high 
ideals.  The  Herr  Director's  paper,  minus  its 


84     Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

statistics,  and  keenly  critical  rather  than 
laudatory,  was  received  with  applause,  and 
he  stepped  from  the  platform  in  the  best  hu 
mor  in  which  I  had  seen  him  since  he  reached 
the  United  States. 

The  real  joy  of  the  Lake  Mohonk  Confer 
ence,  and  of  all  conferences,  is  the  human 
touch,  and  after  the  long  evening  session  the 
Herr  Director  became  the  center  of  an  inter 
esting  group  of  men  who,  while  smoking 
their  cigars,  lost  some  of  their  American 
reserve  and  became  sufficiently  animated  to 
hear  and  tell  stories;  so  it  was  long  past 
midnight  when  the  informal  session  ended. 

Frequently  the  Herr  Director  asked  ques 
tions  about  things  which  he  could  not  under 
stand,  and  it  was  at  such  times  that  I  sought 
to  enlighten  him,  or  have  him  enlightened 
by  others ;  for  he  had  become  sceptical  as  to 
my  own  ability  to  inform  him  regarding  any 
thing  American. 

He  could  not  understand,  for  instance,  that 
all  this  lavish  entertainment  was  free,  and 
suggested  that  it  must  be  a  sort  of  gigantic 
American  advertising  scheme,  carefully  con- 


The  Spirit  at  Lake  Mohonk        85 

cealed.  When  he  was  told  that  to  secure  a 
room  during  the  season  one  must  apply  long 
in  advance,  and  most  likely  have  fair  creden 
tials  before  being  accepted  as  a  guest,  he 
merely  shook  his  head  and  murmured  some 
thing  about  these  "  inexplicable  Americans." 

He  also  did  not  see  how  an  hotel  could 
flourish  in  any  civilized  country  without  per 
mitting  the  accepted  social  diversions,  such 
as  card  playing,  dancing,  and  drinking  some 
thing  stronger  than  the  mild  beverages  served 
at  the  soda  fountain. 

He  wanted  to  know  how  it  was  that  three 
or  four  hundred  Americans  would  take  three 
days  of  their  time  to  discuss  a  theme  which 
had  little  or  nothing  to  do  with  profits.  All 
the  Americans  he  had  known  about  were  void 
of  ideals,  and  had  no  time  for  anything  but 
business  or  poker.  In  fact  he  was  astonished 
not  to  see  poker  chips  littering  the  side 
walks. 

I  told  him  that  while  it  is  true  that  the  av 
erage  American  business  man  is  always  in  a 
hurry,  and  gives  little  time  to  wholesome  re 
creation,  it  is  also  true  that  in  no  country  with 


86     Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

which  I  am  familiar  do  men  of  business  give 
their  time  so  generously  to  the  consideration 
of  the  common  welfare  as  here.  They  do 
this,  not  having  the  incentive  constantly  held 
out  to  the  European  business  man,  namely : 
Recognition  by  the  state  and  the  reward  which 
sovereigns  may  bestow,  in  much  coveted  ti 
tles  and  decorations.  The  average  well-in 
clined  American  business  man  is  incredibly 
patient,  sitting  through  tedious  meetings, 
listening  to  reports  of  various  philanthropies, 
and  earns  a  martyr's  crown  attending  those 
interminably  long  banquets  with  their  assault 
upon  his  digestion  and  their  appeal  to  his 
sympathies. 

At  Lake  Mohonk  the  Herr  Director  met 
business  men  employing  thousands  of  clerks 
to  whom  they  grant  vacations  and  holidays 
without  legal  compulsion,  and  for  whom  they 
have  inaugurated  welfare  plans  of  far-reach 
ing  importance.  It  was  certainly  a  revela 
tion  to  him  that  the  number  of  Americans 
who  are  something  more  than  animated 
money  bags  is  growing  larger  every  day. 

The  still  more  difficult  thing  to  explain  to 


The  Spirit  at  Lake  Mohonk        87 

him  was  the  frank  and  open  discussions  of 
national  policies  and  the  evident  international 
view-point  of  those  who  took  part  in  them. 
In  all  the  discussions  the  most  striking  note 
was  :  "  The  United  States  wants  not  territory, 
not  unfair  advantage  over  other  nations  nor 
aggrandizement  at  the  expense  of  lesser  peo 
ples,  nor  war,  certainly  not  for  conquest." 

The  Herr  Director  intimated  that  in  the 
exalted  mood  induced  by  being  members  of 
this  conference,  we  could  afford  to  be  gener 
ous  ;  but  that  at  a  time  of  national  excitement 
we  are  no  better  than  other  people,  taking 
what  we  can  get  and  asking  no  questions. 

"  Uncle  Sam  was  not  wholly  disinterested 
in  Cuba,  was  he?  and  as  far  as  Mexico  is 
concerned,  who  fermented  the  trouble  there 
but  this  same  Uncle  Sam,  that  you  might 
have  an  excuse  to  swallow  as  much  of 
Mexico  as  you  wanted  ?  " 

Instantly  my  mind  travelled  to  the  time  of 
the  Spanish-American  war,  when  I  was  in 
Europe,  and  the  Herr  Director  was  editing 
an  influential  German  newspaper.  He  wrote 
an  editorial,  accusing  the  United  States  of 


88      Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

beginning  the  war  with  Spain  for  the  sole 
purpose  of  annexing  the  "  Pearl  of  the  An 
tilles,"  and  when  I  disputed  his  theory  we 
nearly  severed  our  "  diplomatic  relations." 

I  now  again  vigorously  pressed  my  point, 
to  the  great  amusement  of  my  friends  and 
the  chagrin  of  the  Herr  Director,  who  could 
not  easily  refute  my  statements  ;  for  while 
I  acknowledged  being  an  "  Unausstelicher 
Americaner"  I  happen  to  know  the  Old 
World  policies  as  well  as  he  does. 

I  mentioned  Austria-Hungary,  and  its  tak 
ing  over  of  Bosnia  and  Herzegovina,  without 
so  much  as  "  by  your  leave  " — and  Germany 
which,  to  salve  its  hurt,  sent  a  fleet  of  war 
ships  to  China  and  helped  the  German  eagle 
bury  its  beak  in  the  Yellow  Dragon's  tail.  I 
mentioned  France  in  Algeria,  and  England 
everywhere — "  and  Uncle  Sam  in  the  Philip 
pines,"  he  interrupted. 

I  took  full  advantage  of  that  interruption 
to  remind  him  that  Uncle  Sam  is  the  only 
power  which  ever  paid  for  anything  gained 
by  that  right  which  in  Europe  seems  to  be 
the  only  right ; — the  right  of  might. 


The  Spirit  at  Lake  Mohonk        89 

It  was  a  difficult  task  which  I  had  under 
taken,  to  convince  the  Herr  Director  that  the 
American  Spirit  is  different  from  that  of  the 
Old  World,  and  in  spite  of  me  he  insisted 
that  we  are  not  a  bit  better  than  other  people, 
but  only  so  situated  that  we  can  afford  to  be 
generous.  I  assured  him  that  I  preferred  to 
boast  of  our  fair  dealing  with  lesser  peoples 
than  of  our  victorious  battles,  and  that  I  am 
never  so  loyally  and  enthusiastically  Ameri 
can  as  when  I  think  of  our  being  just,  rather 
than  mighty. 

I  have  since  been  at  Lake  Mohonk  at  a 
time  when  national  passions  were  aroused, 
and  when  those  who  had  prophesied  the 
early  passing  of  the  battle  fever  were  dis 
credited  prophets.  While  there,  a  letter 
reached  me  from  the  Herr  Director,  in  which 
he  sent  greetings  to  his  host  and  hostess  and 
the  members  of  the  conference,  and  in  which 
he  recalled  his  former  accusation  that  we  are 
no  better  than  other  people;  for  "are  you 
not  pro-Ally  and  filling  your  pockets  with 
the  proceeds  from  the  sale  of  war  munitions  ? 
Where  now  is  your  boasted  fairness  ?  " 


90     Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

My  reply  was  that  I  in  common  with 
many  others  wish  we  could  wash  our  hands 
of  this  bloody  business  of  selling  ammunition, 
and  that  I  still  firmly  believe  that  the  Ameri 
can  people  will  retain  their  poise  during  this 
dreadful  upheaval. 

Yes,  even  to-day  I  can  say  with  no  less 
pride  than  usual  that  I  believe  in  the  Ameri 
can  Spirit,  in  its  sense  of  fairness  and  its  love 
of  justice,  and  while  I  trust  that  this  country 
may  be  kept  from  so  great  a  catastrophe  as 
war,  and  I  be  kept  from  so  severe  a  trial  of 
my  loyalty  as  having  to  choose  on  which 
side  to  fight,  I  know  I  would  freely  and 
unhesitatingly  be  on  the  side  of  my  country, 
the  United  States  of  America. 

Three  glorious  days  had  passed  at  Lake 
Mohonk  and  when  the  guests  left  that  moun 
tain  top  no  one  went  more  reluctantly  than 
the  Herr  Director  and  his  wife,  and  all  the 
way  back  to  the  great  city  they  felicitated 
upon  their  delightful  experiences,  while  I  re 
joiced  in  my  country  and  its  spirit.  When 
the  Herr  Director  wrote  his  book  I  found 
that  he  acknowledged  having  discovered 


The  Spirit  at  Lake  Mohonk        9 1 

four  things  at  Lake  Mohonk.  First,  an  un- 
parallelled  hospitality.  Secondly,  that  the 
leading  men  of  America  are  soberly  practical, 
unemotional,  somewhat  self-centered  ;  but,  at 
the  same  time,  men  of  high  ideals.  Thirdly, 
that  its  military  men  attend  conferences  for  in 
ternational  arbitration,  that  they  do  not  rattle 
their  sabers,  and  in  appearance  cannot  be 
distinguished  from  mere  civilians.  Finally, 
that  the  American  man  boasts  most  and 
loudest  of  his  sense  of  fairness ;  and  while  I 
write  these  lines,  I  am  hoping  and  praying 
that  this  may  indeed  be  not  an  empty  boast, 
but  an  integral  part  of  the  American  Spirit. 


V 
Lobster  and  Mince  Pie 

IF  I  were  gastronomically  inclined  I  would 
study  New  York's  cosmopolitan  popula 
tion  and  its  progress  towards  American 
ization  from  the  standpoint  of  its  restaurants  ; 
for  the  appetite  is  most  loyally  patriotic.  A 
man  may  cease  to  speak  his  mother  tongue 
and  have  forsworn  allegiance  to  Kaiser  and 
to  King,  but  still  cling  to  his  ancestral  bill 
of  fare. 

If  I  were  an  absolute  monarch  and  wished 
my  alien  people  quickly  assimilated,  I  would 
permit  them  to  speak  their  native  tongue  and 
cling  to  the  faith  of  their  fathers  ;  but  I  would 
close  all  foreign  restaurants,  and  as  speedily 
as  possible  obliterate  from  their  memory  the 
taste  of  viands  "  like  mother  used  to  make." 

I  fear  that  it  is  neither  Goethe  nor  Schiller, 
nor  Bismarck  nor  Kaiser  Wilhelm  who  has 
kept  the  memory  of  the  Fatherland  alive  in 

the  minds  and  hearts  of  many  German  people 
92 


Lobster  and  Mince  Pie  93 

in  America.  Dare  I  say  that  possibly  much 
of  their  patriotism  and  loyalty  is  due  to  the 
taste  of  rye  bread  and  sweet  butter,  Rinds- 
brust  and  Pell  Cartoffel,  not  to  mention  a 
certain  frothy  amber  fluid  ? 

Be  that  as  it  may,  when  I  discovered  that 
the  Herr  Director  and  the  Frau  Directorin 
were  homesick,  I  took  them  to  a  German 
restaurant  to  assuage  their  pangs ;  just  as  if, 
did  I  detect  the  same  symptoms  in  an  Amer 
ican  whom  I  wished  to  make  thoroughly  at 
home  in  a  foreign  country,  I  would  take  him 
where  a  meal  could  be  properly  concluded 
with  apple  pie  and  cheese  or  ice-cream. 

The  restaurant  I  selected  lent  itself  particu 
larly  well  to  my  purpose,  for  everything  was 
imported,  from  the  Bavarian  architecture  to 
the  Frankfurter  sausages.  The  menu  card 
was  adorned  by  illuminated,  medieval  letter 
ing,  and  on  the  smoked  rafters  were  painted 
pious  and  impious  verses,  which  gave  the 
room  a  literary  atmosphere. 

It  was  as  crowded  and  full  of  tobacco 
smoke  and  the  odors  of  savory  meats  as  the 
most  loyal  German  could  desire,  and  my 


94     Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

guests  were  thoroughly  at  home.  They  ate 
their  food  happily,  praised  it  discriminat 
ingly,  and  studied  the  familiar  environment 
carefully.  As  usual,  certain  things  were  lack 
ing  ;  for  the  Herr  Director  is  a  keen  critic  and 
never  accepts  anything  as  perfect. 

I  agreed  with  him  that  the  orchestra  was 
too  noisy  and  on  the  whole  superfluous,  and 
that  the  native  American  dining  there  could 
be  easily  recognized  by  the  indifference  with 
which  he  ate.  We  heard  no  loud  complain 
ing,  and  little  or  no  quarrelling  with  the 
waiters.  The  food  was  accepted  in  a  hum 
ble  sort  of  way  whether  it  was  satisfactory 
or  not ;  bills  were  paid,  tips  were  given  in 
the  spirit  of  meekness,  and  accepted  in  the 
opposite  way,  and  the  guests  left  without 
any  ceremony  except  that  of  paying  their 
toll  to  the  keepers  of  their  hats  and  coats,  a 
form  of  extortion  quite  unparallelled  abroad. 

In  striking  contrast  to  our  mere  eating 
was  my  guests'  enjoyment  of  every  morsel 
of  the  food  which  they  had  selected,  not 
simply  because  it  was  food,  but  because  it 
was  a  note  fitting  into  the  gastronomic 


Lobster  and  Mince  Pie  95 

harmony.  The  head  waiter  and  all  his  min 
ions  hovered  about  them  with  due  reverence, 
and  woe  to  him  who  by  pose  or  gesture 
disturbed  the  perfect  accord. 

A  friend  from  Nebraska  who  was  staying 
at  our  hotel  had  joined  us  at  dinner.  When 
the  waiter  handed  him  the  bewildering  bill  of 
fare,  he  waved  it  aside  saying :  "  Just  bring 
me  a  big  lobster  stewed  in  milk,  with  a  dish 
of  pickles  and  a  mince  pie." 

The  waiter  turned  pale,  the  Herr  Director 
gasped,  almost  strangling  on  the  salad  he 
was  eating,  and  the  Frau  Directorin  looked 
at  me  despairingly.  The  waiter  was  the  first 
to  recover  his  composure,  and  cautiously 
suggested  that  the  gentleman  might  like 
some  Lobster  a  la  Newburgh. 

"  Nix,"  said  the  Nebraskan,  "  I  want  lob 
ster  a  la  Milkburgh,  and  don't  forget  the 
pickles." 

The  waiter  retreated  and  after  a  long 
conference  with  his  superior,  informed  the 
gentleman  that  he  could  have  his  lobster 
stewed  in  milk,  but  that  it  would  cost  him 
one  dollar  and  fifty  cents. 


96     Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

"  Hustle  it  along,"  was  the  curt  reply,  and 
in  about  fifteen  minutes  he  was  deep  in  his 
bowl  of  lobster  stew,  flanked  on  either  side 
by  pickles  and  mince  pie,  while  the  rest  of 
us  were  eating  our  way  leisurely  and  artis 
tically  through  a  menu  which  began  with 
caviar  and  ended  with  Camambert  and  demi- 
tasse. 

After  dinner,  American  men,  manners  and 
ideals  became  the  subject  of  a  discussion  into 
which  my  Western  friend  good-naturedly  en 
tered,  although  he  was  made  a  horrible 
example  of  the  fact  that  we  are  ill-man 
nered.  The  Herr  Director  insisted  that  our 
nation  is  too  young  to  have  any  except  bad 
manners,  and  while  no  doubt  we  had  im 
proved  in  the  years  since  he  first  made  our 
acquaintance,  the  improvement  had  not  yet 
permeated  the  masses. 

That  which  I  called  the  American  Spirit 
was  the  spirit  of  the  few  cultured,  academic 
persons  I  knew,  but  the  majority  of  the  peo 
ple  was  as  alien  to  it  as  was  our  Nebraska 
friend's  lobster  and  mince  pie  to  our  de 
licious  and  dietetically  correct  dinner. 


Lobster  and  Mince  Pie  97 

"  I  don't  give  a  hang  for  your  '  dietetically 
correct  dinner.1  I  want  what  I  want,  when  I 
want  it ! "  the  Nebraskan  said,  smiting  the 
table  with  his  fist,  and  evidently  suppressing 
stronger  language  with  an  apologetic  glance 
at  the  ladies  of  our  party. 

"That  is  exactly  it;  you  want  what  you 
want,  when  you  want  it,"  the  Herr  Director 
repeated,  "  whether  or  not  it  is  on  the  bill  of 
fare,  or  in  the  statute  book,  or  among  the 
laws  of  the  Universe.  In  that  I  suppose  you 
Americans  all  agree  ;  that  is  your  American 
Spirit"  He  uttered  the  last  phrase  with 
special  emphasis,  and  with  no  attempt  to 
hide  the  sneer. 

I  admitted  that  my  friend's  demand  for  the 
thing  he  wanted,  regardless  of  the  bill  of  fare 
and  in  defiance  of  a  dietary  law  (of  which  he 
was  not  as  yet  conscious),  was  a  manifes 
tation  of  our  individualism,  a  rather  wide 
spread  characteristic.  I  was  fain  also  to 
admit  that  our  individualism  is  not  always 
as  harmless  to  others  as  in  the  case  under 
discussion.  It  is  an  attitude  of  mind  which 
has  developed  into  a  system  to  which  we 


98     Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

are  committed  for  better  or  worse,  and  is  in 
striking  contrast  to  the  German  ideal  of 
submission  to  an  accepted  order. 

"Yes,"  from  the  Herr  Director  with  evi 
dent  pride.  "That  which  makes  Germany 
great  and  strong  is  our  willing  submission 
to  authority;  but  remember  it  must  be  in 
telligent  authority,  and  at  the  same  time  it 
must  be  efficient.  To  be  sure,"  he  acknowl 
edged,  "we  are  often  chagrined  by  the 
4  Streng  Verboten '  to  the  right  of  us  and  the 
'Nicht  Erlaubt*  to  the  left  of  us.  We  are 
much  governed  but  we  are  well  governed, 
and  you,  too,  will  some  day  discover  that 
the  common  weal  has  to  be  above  the  indi 
vidual's  caprice.  Your  evident  disrespect  of 
laws  and  conventions  results  from  the  lack 
of  intelligence  back  of  them,  and  you  have 
no  respect  for  your  lawmakers  because  they 
do  not  deserve  it" 

At  this  point  the  Nebraskan  astonished  us 
by  saying  that  he  had  recently  been  in  Eu 
rope  on  business,  selling  grindstones,  that 
he  knew  something  about  Germany,  and  he 
never  was  gladder  to  get  back  to  God's 


Lobster  and  Mince  Pie  99 

country  than  when  he  finally  set  foot  upon 
his  native  soil.  He  had  many  adventures, 
and  as  an  example  of  what  he  had  to  suffer 
from  one  of  Germany's  well  enforced  laws, 
he  told  a  story  which  proved  his  sense  of 
humor,  though  the  "  laugh  was  on  him." 

"  When  I  was  in  Berlin  I  made  out  a  small 
bill  for  some  goods  I  had  sold,  and  the  man 
told  me  that  I  must  affix  to  it  some  revenue 
stamps.  I  didn't  want  to  bother  with  it,  and 
told  him  so.  The  thing  was  too  trifling 
anyway. 

"I  never  thought  of  that  bill  again  till  I 
was  forcibly  reminded  of  it  in  Hamburg  as 
I  was  about  to  sail  for  home.  I  was  haled 
before  the  court,  and  the  judge  fined  me 
fifty  marks.  Of  course  I  knew  I  had  to  pay 
it,  so  I  handed  him  the  money  and  told  him 
in  good  English  to  take  it  and  go  to  the  hot 
place  with  it.  I  didn't  dream  that  he  under 
stood,  but  he  replied  in  as  good  English  as  I 
gave  him  :  '  Officials  of  my  rank  travel  first- 
class.  I  must  therefore  have  fifty  marks 
more.'  That  little  joke  cost  me  a  lot  of 
money.  I  wouldn't  want  to  live  in  a  country 


ioo    Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

where  I  couldn't  tell  anybody  I  pleased  what 
I  felt  like  telling  him." 

The  Herr  Director  doubted  the  accuracy  of 
the  story  because  "  no  German  official  would 
show  so  little  dignity."  I,  too,  doubted  it ; 
but  on  the  ground  that  no  German  official 
would  have  so  keen  a  sense  of  humor. 

There  followed  an  animated  argument  be 
tween  the  Nebraskan  and  the  Herr  Director 
as  to  which  is  of  more  importance,  the  indi 
vidual  or  the  state.  The  Nebraskan  insisted 
that  the  state  being  the  creation  of  individ 
uals,  they  are  of  supreme  importance,  while 
the  Herr  Director  persisted  in  his  theory 
that  the  state  is  supreme  and  that  it  is  the 
business  of  the  individual  to  make  it  domi 
nant  and  powerful,  to  which  end  the  state 
must  make  him  effective. 

"  An  ineffective  individual  is  a  menace  to  the 
state,  and  a  state  which  cannot  impress  its  will 
upon  the  individual  and  make  him  submissive 
and  effective  will  be  vanquished  in  the  great 
competitive  struggle  constantly  going  on." 

"I  suppose  you're  effective  enough,  but 
you're  as  slow  as  molasses  in  January/' 


Lobster  and  Mince  Pie          101 

"  Oh,  yes,  we  are  slow,  but  we  are  thorough ; 
we  take  our  time  to  do  a  thing  well,  while 
your  hurry  is  as  wearing  as  it  is  useless. 
When  we  came  down  here  this  evening  we 
were  in  a  hurry.  We  were  rushed  to  your 
crowded  subway  to  take  a  certain  train,  al 
though  the  next  one  would  have  done  as 
well.  In  about  three  minutes  we  were  pushed 
out  of  that  train  into  another,  because  it  went 
faster,  and  we  reached  here  breathless.  We 
saved  time,  but  for  what  purpose?  To  see 
you  eat  your  lobster  and  mince  pie  ?  "  And 
he  looked  contemptuously  at  the  Nebraskan. 

"  What  are  we  going  to  do  now  with  the 
two  or  three  minutes  we  saved  ?  " 

This  was  a  question  I  could  not  answer, 
for  I  did  not  know  why  I  had  hurried.  Per 
haps  because  of  the  excess  of  ozone  in  the 
air,  or  possibly  because  every  one  else  was 
hurrying. 

"You  see,"  he  continued,  "we  Germans 
never  make  the  mistake  of  confounding 
hurry  with  efficiency.  We  hurry,  too,  when 
we  must,  or  when  we  have  a  rational  pur 
pose.  We  know  that  great  things  cannot 


IO2    Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

be  accomplished  in  a  hurry.  We  lay  our 
foundations  not  only  patiently,  but  thor 
oughly  and  cheerfully. 

"You  work  like  slaves  who  are  eager  to 
finish  the  job,  as  you  call  it.  We  cherish 
towards  our  job  a  sentiment  of  love  and 
loyalty  which  we  call  '  Pflichttreue!  a  word 
for  which  you  have  no  equivalent,  proving 
of  course  that  you  have  not  the  thing  itself." 

I  translated  the  word  as  loyalty  to  duty. 

"  Yes,  that  may  be  correct,  but  it  does  not 
ring  true.  Pflichttreue  has  an  ethical  sig 
nificance  which  your  translation  does  not 
convey. 

"  I  have  noticed  that  your  conductors  shed 
their  uniforms  the  instant  they  leave  their 
trains,  as  if  they  were  ashamed  of  their  job. 
With  us,  any  uniform,  whether  a  railroad  con 
ductor's  or  a  general's,  is  gloried  in,  and  hon 
ored  because  of  the  work  it  represents." 

The  Nebraskan  thought  us  too  democratic 
for  uniforms,  which  is  the  reason  we  do  not 
value  them  more  than  we  do. 

"It  is  not  the  uniform,  it  is  our  work  in 
which  we  glory.  A  shoemaker  with  us  is  as 


Lobster  and  Mince  Pie          103 

proud  of  his  job  as  the  Emperor  is  of  his. 
He  is  Emperor  by  the  grace  of  God,  because 
he  believes  it  is  a  God-given  task  to  which 
he  must  be  faithful,  and  we  once  had  a  shoe 
maker  who  called  himself  with  equal  pride, 
'  Shoemaker  by  the  grace  of  God.1 

"  This  pride  spiritualizes  the  simplest  and 
commonest  work  by  making  every  man  a 
conscious  part  of  the  state,  and  he  works  for 
its  glory  and  power.  It  is  a  glory  shared  by 
his  wife  and  family,"  and  the  Herr  Director 
pulled  from  his  pocket  a  German  newspaper. 
"  Look  at  this  funeral  notice.  The  widow 
signs  herself  not  only  as  the  widow  of  a  par 
ticular  man,  but  as  the  widow  of  a  man  who 
did  something  of  which  she  is  still  proud. 
While  she  remains  a  widow  she  will  sign 
herself  Amalia  Henrietta  Schmidt  Koenig- 
liche  Hof  Opern  Obo  Spieler's  Wittwe." 

"  How  can  we  be  proud  of  our  jobs," 
queried  the  Nebraskan,  after  his  hearty 
laugh  at  Amalia  Henrietta  Schmidt,  "when 
we  never  have  a  job  which  we  expect  to 
hold  permanently  ?  I  started  out  with  school 
teaching,  then  I  got  hold  of  a  good  thing  in 


IO4    Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

the  way  of  Carborundum  and  made  grind 
stones.  That's  what  took  me  to  Europe. 
When  that  business  went  bad,  I  bought  out 
the  livery  stable  in  my  town,  and  now  I  am  in 
the  moving  picture  business.  If  I  could  sell 
out  at  a  good  price  I'd  do  it  and  take  up  any 
old  thing  as  long  as  there  is  money  in  it." 

He  was  right.  Our  work  is  not  sacred  to 
us,  for  too  often  it  is  only  the  means  to  an 
end,  and  frequently  a  very  selfish  end.  Be 
cause  Germany  has  had  centuries  of  carpen 
ters  and  tinkers  and  shoemakers  who  planed 
boards  and  mended  pots  and  shoes  "  by  the 
grace  of  God,"  and  swung  the  hammer  as  if 
it  were  a  sword,  they  are  now  wielding  the 
sword  as  if  it  were  a  hammer. 

In  some  way  we  must  get  this  spiritual  ap 
peal  of  the  job,  which  means  not  only  that  we 
shall  have  to  dedicate  ourselves  to  our  task 
in  a  manner  worthy  of  its  significance,  but 
that  the  state  must  have  this  spiritual  atti 
tude  towards  the  worker,  and  treat  him  as 
though  worthy  of  his  place  in  the  economy 
of  the  nation.  It  is  this  wise  provision  for  the 
workers'  efficient  education,  the  state's  recog- 


Lobster  and  Mince  Pie          105 

nition  that  the  well-being  of  the  individual  is 
its  concern,  which  has  given  to  Germany  the 
unfailing  devotion  of  all  her  people. 

I  was  roused  from  these  meditations  by 
hearing  the  Nebraskan's  voice. 

"  You  see  I  never  had  a  chance  to  learn 
just  one  thing.  I  can  do  many  things  tolera 
bly  well,  for  I  had  to  do  them.  I  can  splice 
a  rope,  repair  a  machine,  shingle  a  house  and 
if  necessary  build  a  barn.  I  can  play  ragtime 
on  the  piano,  throw  a  steer  or  ride  a  bucking 
broncho.  I  can  even  make  soda  biscuits.  I 
am  the  child  of  the  pioneers,  and  in  order  to 
survive,  they  had  to  be  jacks  of  all  trades. 

"  I  bought  a  tool  in  a  department  store  the 
other  day,"  and  he  drew  it  from  his  pocket. 
"  It  can  do  sixteen  things  tolerably  well,  but 
it  isn't  worth  shucks  for  any  one  job,  if  you 
want  to  do  it  right.  That's  me." 

The  Herr  Director  wanted  to  know  what 
"  shucks  "  meant,  and  after  I  laboriously  ex 
plained  it  to  him  and  he  had  handled  the 
patent  tool  he  said  : 

"  Your  travelling  men  have  come  over  to 
Germany  and  tried  to  sell  us  this  kind  of 


io6    Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

thing,  but  they  found  no  market.  When  we 
want  a  gimlet,  or  a  saw,  or  a  coat-hanger  we 
want  that  one  thing  and  want  it  as  good  as 
it  can  be  made.  We  marvel  at  your  adapta 
bility,  but  we  are  too  thorough  to  be  adapta 
ble,  and  we  do  not  need  to  be.  You  Ameri 
cans  will  never  be  able  to  compete  with  us 
until  you  learn  to  specialize  and  do  one  thing 
well." 

We  sat  long  into  the  night  comparing  the 
German  and  the  American  Spirit,  but  there 
was  one  phase  of  the  former  which  the  Herr 
Director  clearly  demonstrated,  There  was  a 
religious  fervor  in  his  patriotism  which  the 
average  American  lacks.  To  him  his  coun 
try  was  not  only  above  himself  but  beyond 
everything  else  on  Earth  or  in  Heaven. 
There  often  seems  something  sordid  about 
our  patriotism,  something  connected  solely 
with  the  individual's  well-being.  I  glory  in 
our  sense  of  liberty,  in  the  opportunity  to 
live  unmolested,  and  in  every  man's  chance 
to  be  himself ;  but  I  fear  we  have  as  yet  not 
learned  to  value  our  duty  to  this  country  as 
much  as  we  do  our  privilege. 


Lobster  and  Mince  Pie          107 

I  am  sure  there  will  be  no  lack  of  fighters 
if  the  country  is  in  danger ;  but  shall  we  be 
able  to  fight  the  long,  exhausting  battle 
which  presupposes  discipline  and  subordina 
tion? 

The  United  States  gives  much  to  the  indi 
vidual,  more,  I  think,  than  any  other  country ; 
but  she  has  not  given  intelligently,  she  has 
nearly  pauperized  us  all  by  her  beneficence, 
and  has  demanded  nothing  in  return,  nor 
even  taught  us  common  gratitude. 

Our  children  are  told  that  they  must  love 
their  country,  but  what  that  means  beyond 
fighting  when  it  is  in  danger  they  know  not. 
That  it  means  to  do  their  work  thoroughly, 
that  they  must  learn  to  do  things  well,  and 
exalt  the  nation  by  becoming  efficient  work 
men  that  they  may  help  win  their  country's 
battles  in  the  factory,  or  behind  the  counter, 
they  do  not  yet  know ;  and  what  we  have 
not  learned,  we  cannot  teach. 

This  questioning  mood  of  mine  is  never 
gendered  as  I  contemplate  the  mob,  the 
many  who  are  driven  to  revolt  either  by 
their  unbridled  passions  or  by  the  unbearable 


io8    Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

conditions  under  which  they  have  to  labor ; 
my  fear  is  strongest  when  I  look  into  the 
schools  and  when  I  face  our  youth  which 
comes  out  of  them,  inefficient,  but  above  all, 
undisciplined.  They  do  not  lack  physical 
courage,  nor  yet  devotion  to  the  country,  in 
a  sort  of  abstract  way ;  they  do  lack  the  sub 
mission  to  intelligent  authority. 

In  this  latter-day  test  of  different  ideals  of 
the  state,  through  the  cruel,  undecisive  test  of 
war,  we  may  learn  from  Germany  to  instill  this 
"  Pflichttreue,"  this  loyalty  to  the  job.  We 
may  also  learn  the  more  difficult  lesson  for 
us  individualists — submission  to  authority 
which  we  must  make  intelligent,  as  well  as 
conscientious. 

Necessity  will  soon  teach  us  to  be  thorough, 
and  thoroughness  presupposes  patience.  Add 
these  qualities  and  this  discipline  to  the  enter 
prise,  the  love  of  fair  play,  the  courage,  the 
faith  in  God  and  man,  which  we  possess,  and 
we  too  may  ultimately  develop  a  patriotism 
which  will  stand  the  test  of  adversity,  and 
emerge  from  it  purified  and  strengthened. 

When  we  stepped  out  of  the  restaurant 


Lobster  and  Mince  Pie          1 09 

and  its  German  atmosphere  into  the  unmis 
takably  American  Broadway,  my  German 
guests  felt  that  my  rampant  Americanism 
had  been  thoroughly  subdued.  However 
they  had  literally  "reckoned  without  their 
host."  My  protracted  silence  had  misled 
them,  but  I  could  contain  myself  no  longer. 

"  We  are  now  walking  in  the  streets  of  the 
second  largest  city  in  the  world,  its  popula 
tion  thrown  together  and  blown  together 
from  every  quarter  of  the  globe,  and  the 
most  of  these  people,  if  not  the  worst  of  them, 
have  come  here  in  the  last  thirty-five  years. 
They  brought  neither  love  of  their  new  coun 
try  nor  knowledge  of  its  language  and  insti 
tutions  ;  they  all  came  to  make  money,  and 
to-morrow  morning  four  millions  of  people 
will  begin  again  the  competitive  battle  from 
which  they  are  resting  to-night. 

"The  laws  which  govern  them  are  illy 
made,  but  they  have  made  them,  or  at  least 
had  a  chance  to  select  those  who  did  make 
them.  They  have  not  always  chosen  well ; 
the  officers  who  govern  them  are  often  not 
good  men  ;  frequently  they  are  only  the  most 


no    Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

cunning  politicians  and  one  has  but  scant  re 
spect  for  them.  Yet  in  spite  of  it  all,  this  is 
a  fairly  well  governed  city  and  it  is  quite  re 
markable  that  these  four  million  people  live 
together  in  comparative  peace  and  order. 
Neither  is  there  any  ill  from  which  this  great 
city  or  any  group  of  its  individuals  suffers 
for  which  there  is  not  some  help  or  healing 
or  some  attempt  to  heal. 

"If  I  were  an  absolute  stranger  without 
money,  knowing  neither  the  language  of  the 
people  nor  their  ways,  I  would  rather  be  on 
the  streets  of  the  city  of  New  York  than  any 
where  else." 

"  How  do  you  account  for  it  ?  "  the  Frau 
Directorin  ventured  to  ask,  although  the 
Herr  Director  had  been  violently  expressing 
his  dissent. 

"  We  have  several  things  to  count  on  here, 
even  when  conditions  seem  intolerable.  Let 
me  name  them. 

"  We  are  all  human  beings ;  some  of  us 
have  inherited  the  Old  Testament  righteous 
ness  and  the  passion  for  justice,  and  many 
of  us  have  the  New  Testament  desire  for 


Lobster  and  Mince  Pie          1 1 1 

service.  These  together  make  a  very  effect 
ive  combination,  and  go  a  great  way  towards 
the  glorious  results  we  shall  ultimately 
achieve." 

For  once  the  Herr  Director  was  silent,  and 
as  we  had  reached  our  hotel,  I  think  I  might 
have  slept  peacefully  that  night  had  not  the 
Nebraskan  triumphantly  remarked  as  we 
were  being  shot  up  to  the  topmost  floor : 
"  Say,  I  did  get  that  lobster  a  la  Milkburgh 
with  pickles  and  mince  pie,  didn't  I  ?  I 
always  get  what  I  want  when  I  want  it.'1 


VI 

The  Herr  Director  and  the  "  Missoury" 
Spirit 

THE  anteroom  of  the  editor's  office 
was  crowded  when  the  Herr  Di 
rector  and  I  arrived  to  meet  the  men 
of  the  staff  at  luncheon. 

The  Herr  Director  is  a  publicist  himself, 
and  has  edited  one  of  the  best  known  Ger 
man  newspapers.  Having  called  on  him 
when  he  was  trying  to  mould  an  already 
moulded  public  opinion  I  made  some  interest 
ing  comparisons  which  he  did  not  approve. 
I  could  not  forbear  reminding  him  how, 
when  I  once  called  on  him  in  his  office,  I 
had  to  wait  in  a  similar  anteroom  over  an 
hour,  that  I  had  to  pass  through  a  number 
of  other  rooms  with  a  longer  or  shorter 
period  of  waiting  in  each,  and  was  finally 
admitted  to  his  august  presence  as  if  he  were 
a  king  on  his  throne. 

As  editor  in  chief,  he  was  a  more  or  less 

112 


The  "  Missoury ' '  Spirit         1 1 3 

cloistered  mystery,  and  not  the  man  of  affairs 
one  is  likely  to  be  over  here.  Whatever 
comparisons  I  made  in  spite  of  the  Herr 
Director's  protest,  were  not  entirely  fair ;  for 
editors  are  scarcely  a  species  anywhere,  and 
the  particular  one  upon  whom  we  were  call 
ing  was  an  uncommon  editor  of  an  un 
common  journal.  Neither  he  nor  it  has  a 
counterpart  in  Germany  if  anywhere  in  the 
world  ;  they  are  both  products  of  our  Spirit 
and  have  had  no  small  share  in  shaping  it 
and  giving  it  expression. 

While  I  was  explaining  to  the  Herr  Di 
rector  the  functions  of  this  journal  and  how 
intelligently  it  interprets  current  events,  and 
was  extolling  the  virtues  of  its  editors  who, 
in  spite  of  being  persons  of  national  reputa 
tion  and  great  importance,  have  retained 
their  simple,  democratic  ways,  they  emerged 
from  the  inner  sanctum. 

After  a  vigorous  hand-shake  all  around  to 
which  the  Herr  Director  visibly  braced  himself, 
the  first  contact  was  made,  and  we  were  taken 
to  a  handsomely  appointed  dining-room  in  the 
same  building,  where  luncheon  was  served. 


114    Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

Beneath  all  the  outer  simplicity  and  demo 
cratic  demeanor  of  our  host,  beneath  his 
smoothly  shaven,  well  groomed,  correctly 
tailored  exterior,  the  Herr  Director  recog 
nized  a  dignified  reserve  and  consciousness 
of  power,  which  made  him  whisper  to  me, 
"  His  Majesty  and  suite,"  at  the  same  time 
soothing  with  his  left  hand  his  aching  right 
hand,  just  released  from  the  vise-like  grip  of 
the  editor. 

Although  I  assured  him  that  to  me  they 
were  all  just  the  editors  of  my  favorite  journal 
and  after  that  plain,  American  citizens,  I  too 
am  often  impressed  by  that  sense  of  domi 
nance  and  power  emanating  from  these  men 
and  others  in  similar  positions.  The  feeling 
is  not  unrelated  to  that  I  have  experienced 
the  few  times  I  have  been  in  the  presence  of 
royalty. 

In  our  public  men  of  exalted  position  there 
may  be  lacking  the  mystical  element  by 
which  monarchs  are  surrounded ;  but  the 
sovereign  American  has  more  physical 
energy  and  force. 

Should   the   thrones  of   Europe  suddenly 


The  "  Missoury  "  Spirit         1 1 5 

become  vacant,  I  know  dozens  of  our  men 
who  could  occupy  them,  without  their  sub 
jects  becoming  conscious  of  much  change ; 
and  as  far  as  queens  are  concerned  we  could 
easily  furnish  a  surplus. 

The  Herr  Director  and  I  had  been  chosen 
to  sit  in  the  places  of  honor,  and  we  (or  at 
least  I)  forgot  to  eat,  and  spent  my  time 
studying  these  superb  types  of  Americans. 

The  Herr  Director,  being  more  sophisti 
cated,  absorbed  both  the  food  and  the  com 
pany,  and  in  his  lectures  on  "  Die  Leitenden 
Maenner  in  Den  Vereinigten  Staaten"  which 
he  has  delivered  since  returning  to  Germany, 
there  are  evidences  that  he  remembered  the 
minutest  details  of  the  menu,  as  well  as  every 
word  which  fell  from  the  lips  of  the  editor  in 
chief. 

Of  course  we  spoke  of  many,  if  not  all,  the 
perplexing  problems  which  vex  this  problem- 
ridden  age,  and  each  of  us  had  a  proprietary 
interest  in  one  or  more  of  them  which  we 
hoped  to  solve.  The  editor  as  a  man  of 
affairs  knew  our  particular  problems  as  well 
as  we  knew  them,  and  had  read  all  that  any 


1 1 6    Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

of  us  had  written ;  so  the  conversation  was 
animated  enough,  and  certainly  illuminating. 

My  specialty  being  immigration,  and  hav 
ing  just  returned  from  the  Pacific  coast  where 
I  had  studied  the  problem  as  it  concerns  the 
Oriental,  the  conversation  was  finally  domi 
nated  by  that  interesting  and  somewhat 
delicate  theme. 

Can  we  assimilate  all  these  varied  elements 
which  come  to  us  ?  Can  we  make  of  them 
one  people,  and  eliminate  all  those  ethnic, 
national  and  religious  inheritances  which  are 
frequently  at  variance  with  our  own  ? 

The  editor  believed  we  can  assimilate  all 
or  most  of  them  with  the  exception  of  the 
Oriental,  "  Who,  having  separated  from  the 
ethnic  root  in  the  Pleistocene  period,  repre 
sents  too  varied  a  physical  and  mental  type 
to  be  assimilated  by  the  Occidental."  I  think 
I  am  quoting  him  correctly,  although  not 
word  for  word. 

As  I  did  not  quite  agree  with  him,  I  ex 
pressed  my  views,  and  so  did  the  Herr  Di 
rector.  I  said  I  thought  I  noticed  among 
the  Chinese  and  even  among  the  Japanese 


The  "  Missoury "  Spirit         1 1 7 

the  influence  of  this  new  environment,  and 
could  tell  of  conversations  with  groups  of 
graduates  of  our  colleges,  in  which  not  only 
the  influence  of  this  country  was  noticeable, 
but  the  influence  of  the  particular  institution 
from  which  they  graduated.  Anecdotes  are 
not  easily  accepted  as  scientific  proof ;  but 
this  being  an  informal  luncheon,  I  ventured 
a  few  of  them  which  every  one  seemed  to 
relish  except  the  Herr  Director,  and  he  is  not 
to  blame  for  that,  as  anecdotes  are  rarely 
international.  I  do  blame  him,  however,  for 
telling  me  that  he  had  never  heard  stupider 
jokes  in  his  life.  One  of  these  ethnic  anec 
dotes  I  told  upon  the  authority  of  the  Bishop 
of  the  Yangtsze  district.  Perhaps  like  all 
anecdotes  it  may  have  grown  in  the  telling. 

The  Bishop  had  picked  out  an  unusually 
bright  Chinese  lad  to  have  educated  in  the 
United  States  and  then  become  his  curate. 
When  he  returned  to  China,  after  having 
attended  both  a  college  and  a  theological 
seminary,  he  was  assisting  the  Bishop.  Evi 
dently  he  had  not  thoroughly  mastered  the 
ritual  of  the  church ;  for  this  Oriental,  who 


1 1 8    Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

had  "separated  himself  from  the  ethnic 
root,"  moved  close  to  the  Bishop,  poked  his 
elbow  into  the  ecclesiastical  ribs  of  his 
superior  and  asked :  "  Say,  Bishop,  where 
do  I  butt  in  ?  " 

Our  host  wanted  to  know  whether  I  was 
sure  that  he  did  not  say :  "  Bish  "  ;  I  thought 
to  reach  the  point  of  being  able  to  express 
himself  so  briefly  and  directly  the  Oriental 
would  need  at  least  another  geologic  period. 

One  of  the  staff  asked  whether  that 
anecdote  was  not  my  invention ;  to  which  I 
took  the  liberty  of  replying  that  if  I  could 
invent  such  good  stories  he  might  offer  me 
an  editorship.  How  imperfectly,  after  all,  the 
Oriental  may  absorb  the  spirit  of  our  lan 
guage,  I  told  in  the  story  which  is  supposed 
to  have  its  origin  at  the  University  of  Michi 
gan  ;  although  like  all  such  stories  it  may 
be  claimed  by  innumerable  birthplaces. 

A  Hindoo  student,  who  had  not  quite  fin 
ished  his  academic  career  and  had  to  return 
home  on  account  of  illness  in  his  family,  wrote 
back  to  his  faculty  adviser,  notifying  him  of 
the  death  of  his  mother-in-law,  in  this  char- 


The  " Missoury  "  Spirit         ng 

acteristic,  brief,  Occidental  way :  "  Alas  I  the 
hand  which  rocked  the  cradle  has  kicked  the 
bucket." 

The  Herr  Director  thought  this  anecdote 
funny  enough,  but  it  proved  the  opposite 
from  that  for  which  I  was  contending.  "  Who 
but  an  Oriental  could  invent  such  highly  pic 
turesque  figures  of  speech  ?  " 

The  conversation  drifted  into  soberer  chan 
nels  when  our  host  took  up  the  question  as 
to  what  constitutes  the  American,  who  after 
all  is  hybrid  and  frequently  so  mixed  that 
he  does  now  know  just  how  he  is  ethnically 
constituted. 

"  For  instance,'1  he  said,  "  I  am  part  Ger 
man,  part  revolutionary  Yankee  stock'1  (it 
seemed  to  me  that  he  put  the  emphasis  upon 
the  revolutionary),  "  part  French,  part  Scan 
dinavian,  part  Irish." 

I  have  forgotten  just  how  many  racial 
strains  he  said  were  running  in  his  veins,  but 
a  variety  large  enough  to  be  exceedingly 
useful  to  him  in  claiming  kinship  with  all 
sorts  of  folk,  and  in  making  political  speeches. 
That  the  ancestors  of  the  average  American 


I2O    Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

belong  to  the  great  fighting  stocks  of  hu 
manity  may  explain  if  not  excuse  his  love 
for  physical  combat.  Each  guest  around  the 
table  followed  the  editor's  example  and  ac 
counted  for  his  ancestry,  showing  that  all  but 
two  of  the  Americans  were  mixtures,  ranging 
from  three  to  eight  more  or  less  greatly  differ 
entiated  races,  using  that  term  in  its  broadest 
sense. 

One  of  these  unmixed  Americans  gave  the 
outlines  of  his  family  tree,  all  of  it  growing 
out  of  the  rugged  New  England  soil ;  but 
every  one  of  his  daughters  had  married  a 
man  of  foreign  birth,  or  of  foreign  parentage. 
His  sons-in-law  are  German,  Polish,  French 
and  Jewish.  He  added  :  "  My  German  and 
French  sons-in-law  are  great  chums." 

The  other  pure  American  was  myself,  al 
though  of  course  my  ancestors  did  not  come 
over  in  the  Mayflower,  and  I  have  never  been 
in  New  England  long  enough  for  my  family 
tree  to  take  root  in  its  historic  soil. 

After  all,  though,  the  best  thing  a  nation  or 
race  has  to  bequeath  to  its  children  is  not  al 
ways  handed  down  upon  the  racial  channel. 


The  "  Missoury ' '  Spirit         1 2 1 

I  think  it  is  the  Apostle  Paul  who  discovered 
this  long  ago,  and  his  missionary  propaganda 
among  the  Gentiles  is  based  upon  his  belief 
that  they  are  not  all  Israelites  who  are  of  the 
circumcision.  His  converts  became  Israelites 
through  adoption,  through  their  appreciation 
of  the  Jewish  Spirit  which  came  to  its  full 
fruitage  in  Jesus  of  Nazareth. 

I  once  heard  Max  Nordeau  say :  "  Es  gibt 
zweierlei  Juden :  auch  Juden  und  Bauch 
Juden;"  which  freely  translated  means: 
"  There  are  two  kinds  of  Jews :  those  of  the 
spirit  and  those  of  the  stomach."  The  taste 
for  Kosher  Wurst  and  Gefulte  Brust  is  inher 
itable  to  the  tenth  generation  ;  but  one  is  not 
always  born  with  the  passion  for  righteous 
ness,  the  love  of  justice  and  the  thirst  for 
God.  To  these  one  must  rather  be  born 
again,  and  the  same  thing  is  true  of  the 
American.  There  are  Americans  who  have 
thrown  overboard  their  spiritual  inheritance, 
who  have  expatriated  themselves  because 
they  could  not  live  in  the  Puritan  atmos 
phere  of  New  England ;  but  to  whom  a  Sun 
day  in  the  Riviera  is  not  fully  radiant,  unless 


122    Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

upon  the  rose-laden  atmosphere  there  comes 
wafted  the  fragrance  of  codfish  balls. 

The  Herr  Director  reminded  the  com 
pany  of  the  fact  that  I  was  the  most  "Un- 
austehlicher  Americaner "  he  had  ever  met ; 
to  which  the  editor  responded  that  he  knew 
one  who  was  if  anything  worse  than  myself 
— a  newspaper  man,  Jacob  Riis. 

"  Can  a  nation  feel  secure,  having  to  put 
the  keeping  of  its  Spirit  into  the  hands  of 
aliens  ? "  some  one  asked ;  and  what  would 
happen  in  case  of  a  conflict  between  the 
United  States  of  America  and  the  native 
country  of  even  such  thorough  Americans  as 
Jacob  Riis  and  myself  ?  At  that  time  the  an 
swer  was  not  as  difficult  as  it  is  now,  since 
there  has  been  the  possibility  of  such  a  con 
flict,  and  slumbering  love  of  native  country 
has  been  awakened  by  the  roar  of  cannon 
and  the  noisier  and  deadlier  war  carried  on 
by  the  press. 

It  has  been  a  very  trying  time  for  those  of 
us  who  have  been  called  "  hyphenated  Amer 
icans  " ;  but  I  doubt  that  the  German  or 
Austrian  hyphen  has  been  more  in  evidence 


The  "  Missoury ' '  Spirit         1 2  3 

than  that  which  we  are  pleased  to  call  Anglo- 
Saxon. 

I  can  say  that  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  my 
native  country  precipitated  the  conflict,  I  felt 
no  thrill  of  patriotism  when  Austrian  troops 
invaded  Serbia,  and  frequently  wonder 
whether  I  have  not  suffered  some  moral 
deterioration,  because  through  all  these  stir 
ring  times  I  have  remained  fairly  rational. 
I  have  never  condoned  Austria's  treatment 
of  the  Slavs,  nor  Germany's  invasion  of  Bel 
gium  ;  I  have  not  gloried  in  their  victories,  but 
I  have  suffered  alike  for  all  my  fellow  mor 
tals  who  are  involved  in  this  most  disastrous 
conflict.  I  know  myself  always  human  first, 
and  a  loyal  American  next.  In  fact,  never 
before  have  I  loved  my  adopted  country  as 
much  as  now,  never  did  I  have  for  it  so  pro 
found  a  respect,  nor  a  deeper  realization  of 
the  blessing  of  our  democracy,  imperfect  as 
it  is. 

The  Herr  Director  insisted  that  we  could 
not  count  on  the  loyalty  of  our  immigrated 
citizens  in  case  of  war  with  their  respective 
countries,  especially  as  they  are  so  frequently 


1 24    Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

dealt  with  unjustly  by  our  courts  and  ex 
ploited  by  our  industries.  The  editor  thought 
that  the  danger  to  the  United  States  did  not 
lie  in  the  lack  of  loyalty  in  our  new  citizens, 
but  rather  in  the  general  smugness  of  the 
average  American,  and  in  our  unprepared- 
ness  for  war. 

The  conversation  drifted  into  a  discussion 
of  militarism,  a  subject  which  has  become 
painfully  familiar  since,  and  he  said  that 
although  the  American  is  a  fighter  he  is  not 
a  militarist,  nor  in  danger  of  becoming  one  ; 
and  that  personally,  he,  in  common  with  all 
sane  Americans,  believed  that  the  country 
ought  to  be  prepared  to  protect  itself  and 
defend  its  national  honor. 

"That's  what  we  all  say,"  the  Herr  Di 
rector  remarked.  When  the  whole  company 
laughed,  he  felt  hurt,  and  it  took  me  a  long 
time  to  explain  to  him  that  he  had  accident 
ally  stumbled  onto  a  bit  of  American  slang, 
which  he  had  used  most  innocently,  but 
aptly. 

I  wanted  to  know  just  what  the  editor 
meant  by  preparedness  for  war  and  just 


The  "Missoury"  Spirit         125 

when  a  nation's  honor  was  so  damaged 
that  nothing  but  war  would  restore  it. 
There  seemed  to  be  no  time  left  to  have 
this  question  answered,  and  as  there  was 
some  danger  that  we  would  separate  with 
this  important  subject  upon  our  minds  and 
perhaps  interfering  with  our  digestion,  I 
asked  whether  in  conclusion  I  might  tell 
another  ethnological  anecdote,  which  would 
illustrate  my  need  of  light  upon  that  ques 
tion  of  preparedness  for  war.  To  this  they 
all  assented  if  I  could  vouch  for  its  being  as 
good  as  the  others.  I  thought  it  was  better 
because  I  was  sure  it  was  true,  and  the  joke 
was  on  me.  Every  one  settled  down  ex 
pectantly  except  the  Herr  Director  who 
never  relishes  my  stories,  having  a  fine 
collection  of  his  own  which  he  tells  remark 
ably  well. 

I  had  to  wait  at  a  small  station  in  the  West 
for  one  of  those  periodically  late  trains,  and 
was  reading  the  only  fiction  available,  the 
railroad  time-table.  A  train  which  came 
from  the  opposite  direction  brought  a  gang 
of  working  men  who  had  been  shovelling  the 


1 26    Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

snow  which  had  blocked  the  road.  As  they 
were  all  immigrants  I  had  no  further  use  for 
my  time-table  and  went  among  them,  guess 
ing  at  their  nationality,  sorting  them  accord 
ing  to  the  shape  of  their  heads,  delighting  my 
soul  by  talking  to  them  as  much  as  I  could 
of  their  native  country,  and  quizzing  them 
about  their  experience  in  the  United  States. 

I  had  succeeded  splendidly  with  all  of 
them  and  there  was  but  one  man  left.  As 
soon  as  I  saw  him  I  said  to  myself,  "  He  is  a 
Russian,  not  a  common  Russian,  but  of  the 
Velko  Russ  variety  which  is  still  rare  or  com 
paratively  rare  among  our  immigrant  pop- 
ulation."  I  walked  up  to  him  and  saluted 
him  with  the  pious  greeting  of  his  class. 
There  wasn't  the  slightest  indication  that  he 
understood  me,  so  I  concluded  that  I  was 
mistaken ;  but  knowing  that  he  was  a  Slav, 
I  tried  a  greeting  in  Polish,  and  again  the 
great,  shaggy  Slav  seemed  not  to  under 
stand.  When  Bohemian  failed,  I  decided 
that  my  error  was  merely  geographical 
and  this  was  a  Southern,  not  a  Northern 
Slav.  I  used  all  the  Serbic  I  knew  without 


The  "Mz'ssoury"  Spirit         127 

getting  anything  but  a  stare  from  my  victim, 
and  then  decided  that  he  might  be  an  Alba 
nian.  Knowing  only  two  words  of  that 
language  I  tried  them  with  the  same  nega 
tive  result.  Finally,  disgusted  with  myself 
I  resorted  to  English.  Feeling  sure  that  he 
would  not  understand,  I  shouted  at  him, 
"  Are  you  a  Greek?"  Then  a  ray  of  intelli 
gence  passed  over  his  stolid  face.  Deliber 
ately  taking  his  pipe  out  of  his  mouth,  he 
laconically  replied  :  "  No,  I  am  from  Mis- 
soury." 

A  shout  of  laughter  followed  my  story ; 
but  the  Herr  Director's  face  grew  darker 
and  darker.  When  we  were  in  our  taxicab 
going  back  to  the  hotel,  he  said :  "  One  of 
the  most  remarkable  things  I  have  learned 
to-day  about  the  American  people  is  that 
they  are  very  young,  almost  childlike." 

"  Why,  how  did  you  learn  that  ?  "  I  asked. 

"  Oh,"  he  answered,  "  who  but  a  child 
like,  naive  people  would  laugh  over  such  a 
stupid  joke  as  yours?  Anyway,  how  did 
you  dare  bring  such  a  silly  story  into  so 
serious  a  conversation  ?  " 


128    Introducing  the  American  Spirif 

"  Yes,"  I  replied  ;  "  that  is  as  you  say  a 
sign  of  our  youth.  The  more  complex  and 
seasoned  jokes  belong  to  the  older  civiliza 
tions,  and  the  love  of  a  simple  story  and  the 
ready  response  to  it,  even  though  it  be  a 
poor  story,  are  a  sign  of  our  youthful  health  ; 
but  you  know,"  I  added,  "  that  story  I  told 
was  not  so  mal  apropos  after  all."  And  the 
rest  of  the  day  I  struggled  mightily  to  con 
vince  the  Herr  Director  that  being  "from 
Missoury  "  is  one  of  the  most  hopeful  things 
about  the  American  Spirit 


VII 

The  Herr  Director  and  the  College 
Spirit 

«rT"AAKE  us  out  of  New  York,"  the 
Herr   Director  said  after  a  bear 
ing  day  of  sightseeing,   "  or  we 
will  go  home  on  the  next  steamer.     My  neck 
aches  from  looking  at  the  sky-scrapers,  my 
nerves  are  all  on  edge,  and,"  glancing  at  the 
Frau   Directorin   who   had   hugely   enjoyed 
every  moment  and  showed  no  sign  of  weari 
ness,  "  we  must  have  rest." 

I  was  reluctant  to  leave  New  York,  be 
cause,  after  all,  it  holds  those  great  thrills 
with  which  we  like  to  startle  our  foreign 
friends.  I  feared  the  change  from  those 
daily  surprises  which  thus  far  I  had  been 
able  to  give  them.  Lake  Mohonk,  the  only 
place  outside  of  New  York  City  which  we 
had  visited,  is  unique  in  many  ways  and  its 

experiences  were  not  likely  to  be  duplicated  ; 
129 


130    Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

so  it  was  somewhat  heavy  heartedly  that  I 
started  them  on  a  new  adventure,  praying  to 
Him  who  "  holds  the  nations  in  the  hollow 
of  His  Hand  "  to  aid  me  in  my  praiseworthy 
endeavors. 

I  was  not  very  sanguine  that  my  prayer 
would  be  answered,  for  we  were  beginning  a 
tour  of  the  Eastern  educational  institutions, 
than  which  there  is  nothing  more  difficult 
to  interpret.  This,  not  only  because  they 
have  no  counterpart  anywhere  in  Europe, 
and  the  line  between  our  university  and 
college  is  so  indistinct,  but  because  I  hoped 
to  reveal  their  Spirit,  which  no  mere  outsider 
can  comprehend,  and  which  even  the  man 
on  the  inside  finds  it  difficult  to  understand. 

I  drew  into  the  conspiracy  dear  friends, 
alumni  of  the  different  institutions,  who  knew 
every  blade  of  grass  on  each  respective 
campus,  over  which  they  walked  proudly 
and  reverently.  To  find  one  university 
tucked  away  in  a  village,  another  defying 
the  grime  and  noise  of  a  growing  city  which 
crowded  upon  it ;  one  still  retaining  its  air  of 
exclusive  dignity  in  spite  of  its  garish  sur- 


The  College  Spirit  1 3 1 

roundings,  while  a  fourth  was  nearly  swamped 
by  the  culture-hungry  children  of  immigrants, 
yet  remained  triumphantly  American,  was 
new  enough  and  startling  enough  to  keep 
my  guests  on  the  heights. 

The  pleasant  walks,  shaded  by  tall,  grace 
ful  elms,  and  the  presence  of  distinguished 
Americans,  acted  soothingly  upon  the  Herr 
Director ;  while  the  gracious  attention  paid 
to  the  ladies  convinced  the  Frau  Directorin 
that  she  had  reached  the  feminine  paradise. 
She  could  not  understand,  however,  why, 
when  the  ladies  were  permitted  to  go  every 
where,  and  were  even  allowed  to  gaze  at 
American  students  in  athletic  undress,  they 
were  barred  from  sharing  with  us  the  rare 
privilege  of  seeing  a  thousand  or  more  of 
them  being  fed  in  one  of  those  Gothic  dining 
halls.  There,  surely,  one  might  expect  noth 
ing  worse  than  medieval  piety  tempering  the 
appetite.  Probably  this  tradition  of  no  ladies 
in  the  galleries  is  the  only  thing  beside  the 
architecture  which  is  left  us  from  that  hoary 
age. 

There  are  certain  definite  points  which  the 


132    Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

enthusiastic  alumnus  always  tries  to  impress 
upon  visitors,  and  one  of  them  is  the  past, 
in  which  every  college  glories,  and  as  youth 
seems  to  be  unpardonable,  history  begins 
when  as  yet  it  "  was  not." 

In  most  of  the  places  we  visited,  no  such 
historic  license  was  necessary,  for  many  of 
them  were  respectably  old,  one  of  them  be 
ing  contemporaneous  with  the  history  of  our 
country,  and  others  belonging  to  that  emi 
nently  respectable  period,  "  before  the  Revo 
lution." 

Some  have  important  battles  named  after 
them,  and  several  were  "  Washington's  head 
quarters,"  a  distinction  freely  bestowed  upon 
many  places  by  that  ubiquitous  and  much 
beloved  "  Father  of  our  Country."  At  pres 
ent  the  most  important  thing  seems  to  be 
the  buildings ;  dormitories,  laboratories,  li 
braries  and  usually  most  prominent  of  all, 
the  gymnasium  and  the  athletic  field. 

The  president  of  one  of  the  lesser  univer 
sities,  having  such  a  million  dollar  plaything, 
became  our  cicerone,  and  while  he  took  us 
hastily  through  everything  else,  lingered 


The  College  Spirit  133 

fondly  there,  showing  us  in  detail  the  ex 
pensive  apparatus.  With  classic  pride  he 
stood  upon  the  athletic  field,  looking  as 
some  Caesar  must  have  looked  when  he 
showed  visitors  to  Rome  his  arena,  the 
"  largest,"  and  at  that  time  the  "  costliest  in 
the  world." 

It  was  interesting  to  find  that  the  buildings 
which  pleased  the  Herr  Director  most  were 
neither  new  nor  Gothic,  a  fact  easily  ex 
plained  by  his  dislike  for  everything  which 
is  English.  He  marvelled  that  we  had  chosen 
to  imitate  English  college  architecture,  with 
its  heaviness  and  gloom,  its  hideous  gar 
goyles,  its  useless,  and  here  meaningless, 
cloisters,  rather  than  to  continue  our  fine 
inheritance,  with  its  severely  classic  lines,  its 
wide  windows  inviting  the  light,  and  its 
generous,  broad  doors,  so  much  in  harmony 
with  our  educational  ideals. 

Of  course  no  one  had  an  answer  ready ; 
yet  personally  while  I  do  not  " hasse"  Eng 
land  nor  the  things  which  are  English,  I 
vastly  prefer,  let  us  say  Nassau  Hall  at 
Princeton,  to  anything  which  that  glorious 


134    Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

campus  holds,  not  even  excepting  the  gradu 
ate  college  with  its  massive  and  impressive 
Cleveland  Memorial  Tower. 

The  Herr  Director  shook  his  head  many  a 
time  at  the  external  glory  of  our  universities 
and  even  more  at  the  comfort  and  luxuries 
of  the  dormitories  and  fraternity  houses.  We 
were  the  guests  of  one  fraternity  at  dinner. 
About  twenty  young  men  were  living  under 
one  roof,  having  chosen  each  other  by  some 
mysterious,  selective  process,  and  I  was 
tempted  to  think  that  it  was  their  negative 
rather  than  their  positive  qualities  which 
drew  them  together.  We  were  shown  the 
house  from  cellar  to  garret,  much  to  the  dis 
may  of  the  Herr  Director  who  does  not  like 
climbing  stairs,  but  to  the  joy  of  the  Frau 
Directorin  who,  woman-like,  not  only  loves  to 
peep  into  closets,  and  see  pretty  rooms,  but 
having  discovered  the  American  standard 
for  feminine  grace,  wanted  to  lose  some  of 
her  "  meat "  as  she  expressed  it  in  her  quaint 
English. 

Each  of  these  young  men  occupied  a  suite 
of  three  rooms.  The  hangings  were  heavy 


The  College  Spirit  135 

and  not  in  the  best  taste,  the  chairs  all  in 
vited  to  leisure,  and  the  most  conspicuous 
piece  of  furniture  was  a  smoking  set  with  a 
big  brass  tobacco  bowl  in  the  center ;  while 
innumerable  pipes  hung  from  a  gaudily 
painted  rack.  In  keeping  with  the  furniture 
were  the  pictures  which  were  decently  vulgar, 
and  of  books  there  were  no  more  than  neces 
sary. 

The  Herr  Director  was  asked  regarding 
student  life  in  Germany,  and  he  contrasted 
their  surroundings  with  his  own  cold,  inhos 
pitable  Gymnasium,  the  relentless  examina 
tions,  and  the  freer  but  responsible  life  in  his 
university.  He  described  the  rooms  of  the 
present  Emperor  of  Germany  when  he  was 
a  student  at  the  University  of  Bonn,  remark 
ing  that  they  looked  like  barracks  in  com 
parison  with  these.  "How  can  you  study 
in  such  luxurious  rooms?"  he  asked,  and 
naively  and  frankly  came  the  answer :  "  We 
don't." 

On  the  whole,  the  Herr  Director  liked  the 
looks  of  the  boys  he  saw,  and  the  Frau  Di- 
rectorin  quite  fell  in  love  with  them.  They 


136    Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

were  so  frank,  so  clean  looking,  and  what 
above  all  amazed  them  most,  so  altruistic 
in  their  outlook  upon  life;  they  looked  so 
healthy  and  well  groomed  and  were  so  alto 
gether  wholesome.  But  that  boys  could 
graduate  from  colleges  and  not  have  studied 
— that  was  beyond  their  comprehension. 

The  German  student's  social  standing  and 
his  future  depend  upon  his  "  exams."  There 
is  only  one  prime  thing,  and  that  is  study. 
When  the  Herr  Director  learned  the  multi 
plicity  of  our  outside  activities  which  divide 
the  attention  of  the  students,  he  knew  why 
they  do  not  study.  He  was  aghast  at  the 
scant  reverence  paid  members  of  the  faculty. 
When  walking  with  the  president  of  one 
of  these  universities,  we  met  groups  of  stu 
dents  who  did  not  salute  the  head  of  their 
institution  and  barely  made  way  for  him  to 
pass,  he  grew  quite  wrathy,  and  it  took  the 
combined  efforts  of  the  president  and  my 
self  to  keep  him  from  telling  the  young 
men  what  boors  they  were.  I  think  he 
discovered  later  that  it  was  mere  thought 
lessness,  and  that  there  is  something  really 


The  College  Spirit  137 

fine  about  the  average  American  student ; 
that  he  is  usually  a  gentleman  at  heart,  but 
that  he  has  not  yet  learned  to  value  the 
grace  which  comes  from  that  sacrament  of 
the  common  life — lifting  his  hat  to  his  su 
periors. 

When  I  told  him  that  one  of  my  students 
came  to  me  one  morning  in  haste,  with  "  Say, 
Prof,  where  is  Prexy?"  he  did  not  laugh 
as  I  expected  ;  but  when  I  remembered  that 
I  did  not  laugh  either,  when  it  happened,  I 
forgave  him  his  lack  of  perception. 

It  is  of  course  true,  that  the  average  college 
professor  would  rather  be  called  Jimmy  or 
Jack  or  some  other  pet  name  than  to  have 
his  academic  degrees  pronounced  every  time 
a  student  speaks  to  him ;  but  there  still  re 
mains  the  fact  that  the  ordinary  American 
youth  lacks  this  sense  of  respect  for  person 
ality,  and  that  an  education,  even  a  college 
education,  does  not  remedy  the  defect. 

It  is  a  very  exciting  moment  in  the  life  of 
the  undergraduates  of  at  least  one  university 
when  they  try  to  discover  if  the  preacher  can 
make  himself  heard  above  their  coughs,  which 


138    Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

is  their  way  of  challenging  his  message  ;  but 
it  does  not  help  him  to  believe  that  he  is  in 
the  presence  of  men  who  know  what  rever 
ence  means. 

I  do  not  deny  that  the  undergraduate 
honors  achievement,  but  even  in  that  he 
lacks  proper  discrimination.  How  much  edu 
cation  can  do  to  instill  this  common  and  de 
plorable  lack  of  reverence  for  personality 
I  do  not  know ;  for  it  lies  far  back,  too  far 
back  to  be  reached  by  mere  academic  train 
ing. 

During  our  tour,  the  Herr  Director  had  a 
chance  to  see  one  university  come  out  of  its 
incoherence  and  inexplicable  confusion  into 
unity.  He  heard  it  roar  like  the  "  Bulls  of 
Bashan,"  fling  its  flaring  colors  to  the  wind, 
hoot  its  defiance  to  the  enemy,  dance,  der 
vish-like,  around  the  battle  flames  ;  he  saw  ten 
thousands  of  young  men  suffering  the  war 
fever,  and  an  equal  number  of  young  women 
shrieking  in  wild  delirium  ;  he  saw  embank 
ments  of  automobiles  struggling  to  reach  the 
seat  of  the  conflict,  armies  of  men  trying  to 
storm  the  ramparts,  and  newspaper  corre- 


The  College  Spirit  139 

spondents  mad  from  haste ;  while  in  the 
center  of  it  all,  twenty-two  disguised  men 
struggled  for  a  chalk-line.  Unfortunately,  no 
friendly  guide  was  near  us  to  explain  it  all, 
and  as  I  am  still  an  un-Americanized  alien 
to  a  football  game,  its  meaning  was  lost  to 
my  guests. 

When  two  men  were  carried  from  the  field 
limp,  and  seemingly  lifeless,  the  Frau  Direct- 
orin  promptly  fainted.  The  Herr  Director 
was  beside  himself,  for  there  was  no  way  to 
extricate  ourselves  from  the  maddened  mass 
of  humanity ;  but  while  he  was  wildly  and 
vainly  calling  for  water,  she  revived,  and  we 
stayed  to  the  finish.  I  wished  I  had  not 
brought  them,  for  to  appreciate  a  football 
game  one  must  be  born  in  America,  and  no 
explanation  I  offered  could  convince  the  Herr 
Director  that  we  are  not  more  cruel  than  the 
Spaniards,  whose  opponents  in  their  deadly 
games  are  bulls,  not  men.  The  Frau  Direct- 
orin  still  sheds  tears  at  the  remembrance  of 
how  badly  we  use  our  "  perfectly  nice  young 
men." 

The  fierceness  back  of  this  conflict,  the  vast 


140    Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

amount  of  money  spent  upon  properly  play 
ing  the  game,  the  primary  place  it  occupies 
in  the  imagination  of  the  American  youth,  its 
deadening  influence  upon  scholarship,  and  all 
the  multitudinous  pros  and  cons,  are  over 
shadowed  by  the  fact  that,  as  far  as  the  com 
munity  at  large  is  concerned,  it  expects  this 
Roman  holiday,  and  a  college  or  univer 
sity  is  considered  good  or  poor,  to  the  degree 
that  it  caters  to  this  desire.  One  thing  I  can 
say  for  it :  it  is  thoroughly  American,  bring 
ing  into  the  lime-light  some  of  our  virtues 
and  most  of  our  faults. 

"  In  Germany,"  again  the  Herr  Director, 
"  where  things  are  not  permitted  to  grow 
merely  because  they  grow  elsewhere,  it  was 
found  that  for  military  preparedness  your 
sports  are  of  little  or  no  value,  especially  if 
engaged  in  vicariously;  and  that  teaching 
men  to  dig  trenches  and  serve  cannon,  to 
obey  implicitly  a  command  and  carry  it  out 
effectively,  is  of  more  use,  not  only  to  the  in 
dividual's  well-being,  but  also  for  the  great, 
collective  purpose  of  national  defense." 

It  seems  very  strange  to  me  that  nearly  all 


The  College  Spirit  141 

foreigners  whom  I  have  helped  introduce  to 
our  academic  life  have  been  so  gratified  by 
its  evident  democracy,  and  that  their  satisfac 
tion  was  greatest  when  their  own  aristocratic 
lineage  was  highest.  That  a  man's  career  in 
our  institutions  of  learning  is  not  made  im 
possible  because  he  does  manual  labor  to 
help  him  through,  and  that  he  may  do  such 
femininely  menial  tasks  as  waiting  on  table 
or  washing  dishes,  while  taxing  their  credul 
ity,  is  always  unstintingly  praised. 

I  have,  however,  good  reason  to  believe 
that  while  our  foreign  visitors  find  the 
democracy  of  our  colleges  interesting  and 
praiseworthy,  we  are  losing  the  thing  itself  to 
a  large  degree,  and  my  conscience  has  not 
always  been  at  ease  when  I  finished  a  pane 
gyric  on  college  democracy.  In  fact  what  I 
fear  is  its  defeat  just  there,  where  it  is  most 
needed,  where  we  are  supposed  to  train  the 
leaders  who,  whether  they  become  leaders  or 
not,  are  the  men  who  will  give  tone  to  our 
national  life  and  will  control  its  expression. 

In  travelling  from  one  of  the  universities  to 
the  other,  we  came  upon  a  group  of  college 


142    Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

men  in  the  train.  The  Herr  Director  recog 
nized  them  at  once,  whether  instinctively  or 
because  he  had  discovered  the  type,  I  do  not 
know.  I  knew  them  because  of  the  fit  of 
their  garments,  or  the  lack  of  it,  and  by  the 
fact  that  they  smoked  cigarettes  incessantly. 

The  Herr  Director,  as  a  distinguished 
foreigner,  had  no  difficulty  in  opening  a  con 
versation  with  them,  and  I  think  he  got 
much  illuminating  amusement  out  of  them. 
They  had  just  finished  their  semester  "  exams/1 
and  one  of  them  said  that  the  question  upon 
which  he  flunked  was  a  comparison  between 
the  two  English  authors,  Dickens  and 
DeQuincy.  Though  he  did  not  know  the 
difference  between  these  two,  he  showed  his 
classic  training  by  differentiating  between  a 
Rameses  1 1  and  an  Egyptian  Deity  cigarette 
merely  by  the  color  of  the  smoke. 

I  was  not  drawn  into  the  conversation  until 
the  Herr  Director  needed  me  to  interpret  some 
campus  English.  One  of  the  lads  undertook 
to  inform  us  regarding  the  social  life  of  his 
university  and  more  especially  the  fraterni 
ties,  with  particular  emphasis  upon  his  own, 


The  College  Spirit  143 

which  excluded  not  only  certain  well-defined 
races,  but  also  put  a  ban  upon  certain  classes. 
"  We  don't  admit  anybody  into  our  fraternity 
whose  people  are  not  somebody  in  their  com 


munities." 


I  asked  him  his  name  and  he  gave  it  to  me 
with  a  French  pronunciation. 

I  thought  he  was  Bohemian,  and  recognized 
the  name  as  such,  in  spite  of  its  French  dis 
guise.  I  told  him  so,  and  pronounced  it  for 
him  in  the  hard,  Slavic  way,  all  gutturals  and 
consonants.  I  also  told  him  its  meaning : 
"  A  very  common  hoe  such  as  the  peasants 
use,  and  it  means  that  your  ancestors  in 
Bohemia  earned  their  living  honestly,  which 
I  am  sorry  to  say  cannot  always  be  said  about 
'  people  who  are  somebody '  in  our  communi 
ties." 

The  Herr  Director  thought  I  was  very  hard 
upon  the  poor  fellow,  and  later  I  had  a  good 
talk  with  him.  I  tried  to  show  him  that  his 
Bohemian,  peasant  origin  ought  to  be  a 
source  of  pride  to  him.  That  the  very  fact 
that  he  and  his  people  had  come  out  of  the 
steerage,  and  by  virtue  of  our  democratic  in- 


144    Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

stitutions  could  rise  to  the  point  where  they 
could  send  him  to  college,  should  make  him 
a  guardian  of  the  American  Spirit  and  not  its 
foe.  I  do  not  know  that  he  profited  by  what 
I  said  ;  for  I  often  find  myself  talking  to  the 
wind  and  the  tide,  and  they  are  both  against 
me. 

I  have  only  pity  for  the  gilded  youth  who 
go  to  an  American  college  with  its  vast 
opportunities  of  human  contact,  yet  fail  to  see 
any  one  outside  their  own  social  boundaries. 
After  all,  the  chief  glory  of  our  educational 
institutions  is  that  their  best  things  are  still 
democratic.  No  man  is  kept  from  the  Holy 
of  Holies,  from  sound  learning,  from  the  con 
tact  with  scholarly  minds,  from  good  books, 
and  enough  of  rich  fellowship  to  make  going 
to  college  worth  while. 

We  heard  one  delightful  story  which  is  so 
typically  American  and  so  reveals  the  Ameri 
can  Spirit  at  its  best,  that  the  Herr  Director 
embodied  it  in  his  book.  The  president  of  a 
Quaker  college  told  us  that  just  as  he  found 
there  was  some  danger  that  the  men  who  had 
to  work  their  way  through,  were  losing  cast, 


The  College  Spirit  145 

one  of  the  upper  classmen  opened  a  boot  and 
shoe  mending  and  cleaning  shop.  As  he 
was  a  man  of  means,  whose  standing  in  his 
group  was  unquestioned,  his  action  took 
from  common  labor  its  ever  renewing  curse. 

In  many  of  the  colleges  we  met  groups  of 
men  so  full  of  this  spirit,  so  concerned  with 
fostering  it,  that  all  the  snobberies  of  which 
we  had  heard  seemed  even  smaller  than  they 
were  in  their  own  right.  We  met  those  who 
gave  their  leisure  hours  to  that  most  difficult 
and  worthy  task  of  Americanizing  the  immi 
grants  who,  in  many  instances,  almost  en 
croached  upon  the  campus.  The  students 
visited  them  in  the  box-cars  where  they  lived, 
or  in  the  hovels  where  they  reared  children ; 
they  taught  them  English  and  the  elements 
of  good  citizenship,  and  every  one  of  them 
had  some  particular  Antonio  to  whom  he  was 
devoted,  and  whom  he  was  trying  to  lift  to  his 
level. 

Although  the  general  testimony  was  that 
the  students  had  gained  more  from  the  con 
tact  than  the  immigrants  had,  I  know  how 
immeasurably  much  it  means  to  these  stran- 


146    Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

gers  to  have  leaning  up  against  their  own 
lonely  souls  men  of  culture,  and  sweet,  clean 
breath,  and  brotherly  heart. 

It  is  this  idealism  in  our  college  youth 
which  is  so  precious  an  asset  that  to  lose  it 
would  mean  bankruptcy  to  our  educational 
institutions. 

Although  the  Herr  Director  did  not  tell 
me,  I  knew  that  this  excursion  into  the  uni 
versities  of  the  East  had  been  a  success ;  for 
thus  far  he  seemed  to  have  enjoyed  every 
thing  ;  at  least  he  did  not  complain  about 
anything.  He  seemed  in  an  especially  happy 
mood  when  we  were  talking  it  over  in  the 
home  of  one  of  the  presidents,  whose  guests 
we  had  become.  "  Yes,  I  like  your  colleges 
very  much,  and  if  I  should  want  my  boy  to 
have  four  years  of  more  or  less  organized 
happiness,  I  would  send  him  to  an  American 
college.  He  would  have  a  good  time,  I 
think  his  morals  would  be  safe/'  and  he 
added  with  a  smile,  "  his  intellect  would  be 
safe  also." 


VIII 

The  Russian  Soul  and  the  American 
Spirit 

NEW  YORK  is  geographically  mis 
placed  for  such  a  purpose  as  mine. 
It  ought  to  lie  somewhere  west  of 
Niagara  Falls,  so  that  one  might  be  able  to 
take  strangers  to  that  wonderful  cataract 
without  their  having  previously  exhausted 
all  the  emotions  which  they  are  capable  of 
expressing. 

The  day  journey  between  New  York  and 
Buffalo  is  never  commonplace,  especially 
when  it  furnishes  such  euphonious  names  as 
Susquehanna,  Wilkes  Barre,  Mauch  Chunk, 
etc.  From  the  hilltops  we  had  glimpses  of 
great  valleys  below,  valleys  which  are  mined 
and  furrowed  and  channelled  by  a  great  in 
dustrial  host  whose  crowded  dwellings  re 
semble  the  hives  of  bees  and  are  as  mon 
otonously  alike. 

I  could  make  these  glimpses  interesting 


148    Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

enough,  for  I  could  tell  by  the  shape  of  the 
church  steeples  and  by  the  style  of  cross 
which  crowned  them,  what  faiths  were  there 
contending  with  each  other.  With  equal 
certainty,  and  by  the  same  signs,  I  knew  the 
nationality  of  the  people  who  worked  there, 
and  had  faith  enough  to  build  steeples  in  the 
shadow  of  mine  shafts  and  coal  breakers.  It 
was  an  atmosphere  tense  from  the  labor  of 
seven  unbroken  days,  and  heavy  from 
noxious  gases  in  which  trees  languish  and 
die,  fish  perish  in  the  murky  rivers,  birds 
fear  to  nest,  and  man  alone,  immigrant  man, 
lives  and  works  and  worships. 

The  Herr  Director,  like  all  Germans,  has  a 
natural  contempt  for  the  Slavs,  and  when  I 
proposed  that  before  we  visited  Niagara 
Falls  we  should  see  some  of  the  Slavic  set 
tlements,  he  demurred ;  but  when  the  Frau 
Directorin  added  her  plea  to  mine,  he  re 
luctantly  yielded.  I  was  able  to  promise 
them  an  interesting  meeting  with  an  idealistic, 
young  Russian  priest,  who  had  voluntarily 
taken  a  mission  among  these  miners.  He 
was  earnestly  striving  to  guard  their  souls, 


Russian  Soul  and  American  Spirit    1 49 

and  also  that  which  seems  quite  as  precious 
to  their  church,  their  Russian  nationality. 

The  Greek  Orthodox  Church  is  the  most 
nationalistic  church  in  existence,  and  where- 
ever  those  bulbous  towers  with  their  slanting 
crosspieces  dominate  the  sky,  it  is  equivalent 
to  the  raising  of  the  national  flag.  The 
Slavic  soul  is  thoroughly  Christian  in  its 
quality  of  patient  endurance,  in  which  it  has 
had  long  and  hard  tutelage.  At  the  same 
time  it  is  tenacious  and  unyielding  of  its  par 
ticular  dogma,  having  been  taught  from  its 
earliest  consciousness  that  its  salvation  lies 
in  strict  adherence  to  the  national  faith. 

The  city  where  we  tarried  is  one  of  the 
best  in  which  to  study  the  Slavic  Soul,  and 
its  relation  to  the  American  Spirit,  being- 
large  enough  to  express  that  Spirit  in  its 
varied  manifestations ;  yet  not  so  large  that 
the  articles  it  manufactures  hide  or  crush  the 
articles  of  its  faith. 

I  knew  my  guests  would  like  the  place, 
for  while  it  is  a  busy  town  in  the  very 
heart  of  Pennsylvania's  industrial  region,  it 
has  retained  a  sort  of  homelike  atmosphere. 


150    Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

Situated  midway  between  the  large  cities 
and  the  small  towns  which  we  had  thus  far 
visited,  it  has  all  the  usual  bustle,  and  is  full 
of  vigorous  rivalry  with  other  like  cities  in 
the  same  valley.  Whatever  one  city  does, 
whether  building  ambitious  sky-scrapers  or  a 
commodious  Y.  M.  C.  A.,  promoting  a  re 
vival,  or  bringing  in  new  industries,  this  little 
city  endeavors  to  duplicate  upon  a  still  larger 
scale. 

My  guide  for  the  day  was  the  town's  chief 
"  hustler,"  the  secretary  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A., 
who  is  an  embodiment  of  the  American 
Spirit,  being  both  body  and  spirit.  He 
made  a  splendid  foil  to  the  Russian  priest 
who  is  all  soul,  Russian  soul  and  as  little  at 
home  in  the  United  States  as  the  Czar's 
double  eagle  would  be,  floating  from  the 
city's  court-house  which  stood  in  typical 
court-house  fashion  in  the  center  of  the  town 
square. 

The  Y.  M.  C.  A.  secretary  met  us  at  the 
station,  needless  to  say,  in  an  automobile,  as 
there  is  nothing  the  average  American  would 
rather  do  than  "  show  off "  his  town.  He 


Russian  Soul  and  American  Spirit    1 5 1 

) 
gave  his  time  unstintingly  for  that  purpose, 

beginning  the  process  by  taking  us  through 
his  institution  which  is  American  enough  to 
have  challenged  the  Herr  Director's  atten 
tion.  In  great  good  humor  he,  with  the 
rest  of  us,  followed  the  secretary  from  the 
bowling  alley  to  the  roof  garden,  looked  into 
the  dormitories  and  class  rooms,  and  pro 
tested  only  when  our  zealous  guide  gave  us 
long  statistics  as  to  how  many  people  took 
baths,  how  many  men  were  converted,  and 
how  much  of  the  mortgage  had  been  paid  off 
during  his  incumbency. 

I  had  to  explain  to  the  Herr  Director  the 
meaning  of  mortgage  and  its  relation  to  our 
religious  institutions  ;  for  the  two  seemed  re 
lated  in  some  mysterious  way. 

He  was  duly  impressed  ;  for  this  practical 
side  of  religion,  this  combination  of  saving 
souls  and  giving  baths  was  new  to  him. 
Newer  and  more  interesting  still  was  the 
clerical  machinery  with  its  card  indices,  its 
numerous  secretaries,  stenographers,  and  its 
clock-like  regularity  and  efficiency. 

The  secretary  is  undoubtedly  a  religious 


152    Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

man ;  but  he  is  a  business  man  first,  and 
his  soul  has  had  no  small  struggle  in  an 
atmosphere  which  demands  that  he  attract 
new  members,  raise  a  generous  budget,  pay 
off  a  mortgage  and  at  odd  moments  look 
after  his  own  business ;  for  besides  being 
secretary  of  this  great  institution,  he  dabbles 
in  Western  lands,  has  an  interest  in  a  canning 
factory,  and  helps  "  boom  "  the  town. 

I  could  assure  the  Herr  Director  that, 
nevertheless,  his  soul  survives ;  for  the 
average  American  is  remarkably  adaptable, 
and  while  this  secretary  may  permit  his  relig 
ion  to  suffer  before  his  business,  I  know  he 
does  not  "  lose  his  own  soul "  ;  although  in 
that  respect  as  in  everything  else  he  does  run 
frightful  risks. 

When  we  left  the  palatial  lobby  of  the 
Y.  M.  C.  A.,  having  had  bestowed  upon  us 
its  annual  report,  souvenir  postal  cards,  and 
incidentally  a  prospectus  of  the  Western  Land 
Co.,  the  secretary  insisted  upon  accompany 
ing  us.  As  he  put  his  automobile  at  our  dis 
posal,  and  the  Slavic*  settlements  were  out  of 
reach  by  the  ordinary  means  of  locomotion, 


Russian  Soul  and  American  Spirit    153 

we  reluctantly  accepted  his  kind  offer,  the 
Herr  Director  having  previously  confided  to 
me  that  he  did  not  like  the  secretary's 
"hustle,"  and  that  his  "efficiency"  made 
him  nervous. 

There  were  two  things  which  the  Frau 
Directorin  found  everywhere  and  in  which 
her  soul  delighted  :  marked  and  courteous 
attention  to  the  ladies — and  automobiles. 
We  took  just  one  street  car  ride  in  New 
York  City,  having  been  fairly  showered 
by  offers  of  automobile  rides,  one  form  of 
hospitality  of  which  we  have  grown  quite 
prodigal. 

It  was  well  that  we  had  both  the  secretary 
and  the  automobile  ;  for  although  I  thought  I 
knew  where  the  Russian  parish  was  located 
I  did  not  reckon  with  the  fact  that  it  was 
three  years  since  I  had  last  visited  it.  Dur 
ing  that  interval  the  town  had  so  altered  that 
the  landscape  was  quite  unrecognizable. 

It  is  the  peculiarity  of  this  and  neighbor 
ing  towns  that  it  changes  its  topography  over 
night.  What  was  a  hill  becomes  a  hollow, 
and  the  reverse  process  also  takes  place 


154    Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

though  more  slowly,  because  of  the  huge 
culm  piles  which  accumulate. 

The  mining  of  coal  being  carried  on  under 
the  town  has  been  so  thorough  in  later  years 
that  intervening  coal  props  have  been  re 
moved,  and  houses  and  churches  which 
formerly  were  above  the  level  are  now  below 
it. 

We  finally  found  the  Russian  church  and 
its  adjoining  parsonage  in  as  uninviting  an 
environment  as  I  have  ever  seen.  The  three 
years  since  I  visited  them  had  not  only  let 
them  down  from  their  eminence,  but  had  de 
veloped  a  stagnant  pool  on  one  side,  while 
refuse  from  the  mines  had  encroached  upon 
the  other.  All  the  glory  of  red  and  yellow 
paint  had  departed,  leaving  only  a  drab 
dinginess,  the  prevailing  tone  of  the  land 
scape. 

The  priest  received  us  in  his  study,  which, 
besides  the  Icons  and  a  Samovar  had  no  orna 
ments.  The  musty  air  was  full  of  cigarette 
smoke,  and  most  diminutive  stumps  of  these 
" Papirosy"  were  lying  about,  adding  to  the 
general  untidiness.  A  parish  register  lay 


Russian  Soul  and  American  Spirit    155 

upon  the  desk.  It  contained  the  names  of 
more  than  a  thousand  souls  with  the 
chronicle  of  their  coming  into  this  world  and 
their  going  out  of  it,  and  also  that  most  im 
portant  item,  when  they  had  attended  Holy 
Communion,  the  one  visible  sign  of  their 
allegiance  to  the  true  faith. 

The  Holy  Father  had  a  strange  history. 
The  son  of  a  priest,  he  naturally  was  destined 
for  the  same  calling.  Caught  by  the  ever 
moving  tide  of  revolt  he  had  "  sown  his  wild 
oats,"  which  consisted  of  disseminating  revo 
lutionary  literature.  He  was  imprisoned, 
then  like  many  good  Russians  repented,  and, 
as  a  penance,  came  to  Pennsylvania. 

In  desolation  and  distance  from  home  his 
parish  was  not  unlike  Siberia.  It  was  even 
worse,  for  it  was  an  exile  from  like-minded 
men,  and  his  suffering  on  that  score  was 
acute.  I  have  watched  the  manifestation  of 
national  or  racial  characteristics  in  individ 
uals,  and  I  feel  certain  that  the  Russian  re 
flects  those  characteristics  most  intensely, 
whether  he  be  peasant,  priest  or  noble. 

Not  without  reason  does  he  call  his  coun- 


156    Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

try  "  Mother  Russia."  He  has  for  her  just 
that  kind  of  affection,  and  it  is  as  different 
from  the  violent  love  of  the  Herr  Director  for 
his  Fatherland  as  is  the  matter-of-fact  senti 
ment  of  the  American  for  his. 

The  Russian  completely  reflects  his  coun 
try,  and  as  both  her  virtues  and  her  faults 
are  feminine,  there  is  in  him  something 
gentle  and  yielding  towards  external  author 
ity,  and  yet  something  unconquerable  and 
defiant.  There  is  a  capacity  for  suffering 
and  sacrifice  of  which  no  other  people  seem 
to  be  capable.  There  is  also  a  confidence  in 
the  goodness  of  humanity,  no  matter  how 
bad  it  may  seem,  which  reminds  me  of  the 
confidence  of  the  woman  who  is  beaten  by 
her  drunken  husband,  yet  knows  that  in  his 
sober  moments  he  is  not  a  bad  man. 

The  predominance  of  the  spiritual  quality 
may  or  may  not  be  feminine,  but  it  certainly 
is  Russian,  and  one  may  indeed  speak  of  the 
soul  of  a  people  in  relation  to  the  Slavs  in 
general,  and  the  Russians  in  particular. 

The  priest  possessed  all  these  character 
istics  ;  he  was  the  Russian  Soul,  and  this 


Russian  Soul  and  American  Spirit    157 

soul  quality  became  even  more  apparent  in 
contrast  with  the  complex  spirit  of  the  Amer 
ican  secretary,  in  whom  Teuton  and  Celt 
were  blended,  and  with  the  Herr  Director, 
whose  soul  had  hardened  under  the  discipline 
which  Germany  had  given  him. 

He  lost  no  time  in  beginning  an  argument 
with  the  priest  as  to  the  relations  of  their  re 
spective  countries,  and  when  it  threatened  to 
become  acrimonious,  the  secretary,  hoping 
to  create  a  diversion,  asked  the  priest  why 
he  did  not  encourage  his  parishioners  to 
come  to  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  At  that  point  I 
threw  myself  into  the  breach,  and  with  con 
siderable  difficulty  directed  the  conversation 
into  safer  channels. 

I  asked  the  priest  to  show  us  his  mission, 
and  he  took  us  into  the  church,  much  poorer 
than  any  I  have  ever  seen  in  Russia,  and 
then  into  the  schoolroom,  where  the  children 
of  the  miners  received  their  religious  instruc 
tion  and  as  much  of  secular  education  as  they 
craved.  The  teacher  was  a  lean  youth  who 
looked  as  if  he  had  suffered  moral,  spiritual  and 
physical  bankruptcy  before  coming  to  Amer- 


158    Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

ica.  He  and  the  whole  equipment  seemed 
hopelessly  inadequate  and  out  of  place. 

The  secretary  did  not  know  that  hundreds 
of  children  were  growing  up  in  an  American 
community,  yet  completely  isolated  from  it, 
and  the  Herr  Director  remarked  that  in 
Germany  this  would  be  regarded  as  treason 
to  the  state.  The  priest  declared  that  it  was 
his  mission  in  America  not  only  to  keep  his 
people  and  their  children  loyal  to  the  national 
church,  but  to  inject  into  our  Westernized 
materialism  this  true  Slavic  faith  and  its 
leaven. 

He  believed  that  in  America  we  lack  soul. 
We  worship  science  and  money  and  busi 
ness.  The  Russian  alone  lives  in  intimacy 
with  God  and  regards  that  relation  of  the 
supremest  importance.  "  The  American," 
he  continued,  "  believes  in  developing  natural 
resources,  the  German  develops  the  mind,  the 
Russian  alone  develops  the  soul." 

I  have  always  had  the  greatest  reverence 
for  the  Russian  Soul.  I  have  learned  some 
thing  the  Herr  Director  could  not  see,  on  ac 
count  of  the  natural,  political  antagonism 


Russian  Soul  and  American  Spirit    159 

between  his  own  country  and  Russia  ;  some 
thing  the  secretary  could  not  comprehend 
on  account  of  his  provincialism,  and  the 
priest  would  not  admit  because  of  his  official 
position,  namely  :  that  neither  the  Russian 
State  nor  the  Russian  Church  represents 
the  Russian  Soul.  Its  common  people,  al 
though  nearly  crushed  by  the  one  and  con 
fused  by  the  other,  are  still  Christian  souls 
and  as  such  have  a  mission  to  America ;  but 
I  could  not  see  how  that  mission  would  be 
fulfilled  by  locking  up  a  few  hundred  chil 
dren  in  a  filthy  schoolroom  and  teaching 
them  their  national  catechism. 

The  Spiritual  Russia,  as  it  is  incorporated 
in  its  common  people  and  as  it  is  interpreted 
by  Tolstoy  and  Dostoyewsky,  has  reached  us 
and  taught  us  the  greatest  lesson  which  we 
self-righteous  Americans  needed  to  learn :  the 
impossibility  to  judge  our  peers  or  to  be 
judged  by  them. 

It  was  Tolstoy  and  Dostoyewsky  who  com 
pelled  some  of  us  to  see  our  own  guilt,  and 
they,  not  the  Russian  Church,  united  our 
voices  with  those  of  the  Russian  people  in  the 


160    Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

chief  note  of  their  Mass,  "  Lord  have  mercy  1 

0  Lord  have  mercy ! "     The  Russian  peasant 
always  knew  that  men  are  stricken  by  crime 
as  by  a  disease  ;  and  when  he  passed  those 
consigned  to  prison,  he  cried  out  incessantly : 
"  Lord  have  mercy  !     O  Lord  have  mercy !  " 
And   for  the   man   who   escaped,  he   never 
hunted  with  the  bloodhound's  passion,  as  we 
do  ;  he  put  a  crust  of  bread  upon  the  window, 
to  help  him  on  his  way. 

It  was  news  to  the  secretary  that  Judge 
Lindsay,  the  "  Kid's  Judge,"  as  he  is  affec 
tionately  called,  received  his  inspiration  from 
Tolstoy,  and  that  the  tendency  to  change  our 
prisons  into  Social  Clinics  was  originally  sug 
gested  by  Dostoyewsky,  a  name  quite  un 
familiar  to  him. 

The  Herr  Director  spoke  of  the  inadequacy 
of  these  same  Russians  when  they  try  to  put 
their  theories  into  practice,  and  what  prosaic, 
impossible  preachers  they  make.  To  which 

1  replied  that  their  failures  are  due  to  their 
preponderance  of  soul  and  their  lack  of  the 
practical  spirit  with  which  we  are  so  super 
abundantly  endowed. 


Russian  Soul  and  American  Spirit    1 6 1 

The  secretary  could  scarcely  believe  that 
his  practical,  matter-of-fact,  card-indexed, 
efficient-from-top-to-bottom,  result-bringing, 
tabulated,  report-making,  American  Y.  M. 
C.  A.  might  be  benefited  by  an  infusion  of 
Russian  Soul.  He  almost  doubted  that  the 
delving  miners  whom  we  saw  coming  home 
from  the  mines,  sooty  and  begrimed,  pos 
sessed  that  soul.  Nor  did  the  Herr  Director 
realize  that  all  his  Germanic  searching  and 
classifying,  all  his  minute,  painstaking  in 
vestigation  into  the  innermost  of  everything, 
left  him  where  the  Russian  had  long  ago 
preceded  him :  in  the  holy  presence  of  the 
unknowable,  unsearchable  wisdom  of  God. 

The  American  has  great  reverence  for 
results,  and  it  is  hard  for  him  to  be  patient 
with  failure.  The  German  respects  authority, 
and  has  scant  respect  for  the  individual. 
The  Russian  respects  man  and  knows  what 
it  means  to  love  him  in  his  weakness,  and  to 
be  humble  in  the  presence  of  another's  failure. 

I  had  a  long,  intimate  talk  with  my  friend 
the  priest,  who  has  never  spent  a  happy  day 
since  he  has  been  in  America  which  he  hates, 


162    Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

or  rather,  despises,  and  so  hurts  me  more 
than  he  knows. 

Throwing  open  the  well-thumbed,  poorly 
kept  register,  in  such  striking  contrast  to  the 
Y.  M.  C.  A.  secretary's  card  index,  he  said : 
"Look  how  many  I  have  buried  this 
month,"  and  he  counted  them,  and  there 
were  eighteen,  "all  of  them  slain  in  that 
dreadful  mine,  and  no  one  in  the  Company 
or  in  the  town  cares  how  they  were  buried. 
These  Americans  have  no  souls.  They  send 
an  undertaker  who  wants  to  bury  them  like 
dogs,  and  the  quicker  the  thing  is  done  the 
better.  They  sent  me  notice  shortly  after  I 
came  here  that  the  funerals  lasted  too  long 
and  kept  the  men  from  work.  Look  how 
those  men  walk !  My  mujiks,  who  walked 
like  princes,  now  bend  their  backs  before 
your  dirty  coal,  and  walk  like  slaves." 

His  complaint  was  not  altogether  unrea 
sonable.  In  some  things  he  was  right,  in 
many  things  he  was  wrong;  but  to  argue 
with  a  Russian  is  as  hopeless  as  to  try  to 
argue  with  Niagara  Falls.  I  did  tell  him 
that  while  the  Russian  here  must  bend  his 


Russian  Soul  and  American  Spirit    163 

back  over  his  work,  he  does  not  have  to  bend 
it  at  every  corner  before  the  icon  or  before 
every  policeman  he  meets ;  that  here,  by  vir 
tue  of  the  American  Spirit,  his  soul  may  be 
freed  from  superstition  and  his  mind  from 
darkness. 

When  in  parting  the  priest  embraced  and 
kissed  me,  he  said :  "  No,  even  you  don't 
understand  the  Russian  Soul." 

The  Herr  Director  suffered  his  embrace 
with  good  grace,  but  when  the  secretary's 
turn  came  he  fled.  To  be  kissed  by  a  man 
is  a  sentimentality  which  the  American  can 
not  endure. 

"We  don't  understand  the  Russian  Soul," 
I  said  to  him,  "  neither  you  nor  I,  but  one 
thing  I  do  know.  When  the  coal  has  been 
dug  out  of  these  hills  and  these  cities  shall 
have  gone  the  way  of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah, 
and  your  churches  and  Y.  M.  C.  A.  may 
have  vanished  because  it  did  not  pay  to 
keep  them  going,  this  Russian  Soul  will  en 
dure  ;  and  the  sooner  we  learn  to  understand 
it  the  better  for  us  and  for  them  and  for  our 
country." 


164    Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

When  we  left  the  Russian  church  and  its 
faithful  priest,  the  Frau  Directorin  told  us 
that  the  children  were  incredibly  filthy,  and 
that  she  had  spent  the  time  we  wasted  in  ar 
gument  cleaning  them  up,  good  hausfrau 
that  she  is.  The  secretary  was  thinking 
deeply,  and  when  he  deposited  us  at  the 
hotel,  he  thanked  me  for  revealing  some 
thing  which,  although  so  near,  he  would 
never  have  discovered.  The  Herr  Director 
kept  me  up  until  midnight  talking  about  the 
Slavic  menace  to  Germany,  and  the  intel 
lectual  poison  of  its  modern  literature. 

We  reached  Niagara  Falls  the  next  after 
noon,  and,  as  I  had  feared,  neither  of  my 
guests  showed  any  surprise  nor  felt  any 
thrill.  I  could  understand  the  Herr  Direct 
or's  coolness  towards  our  natural  wonder, 
for  he  had  seen  it  thirty  years  before  ;  but 
his  wife's  attitude  was  inexplicable,  until  she 
told  me  what  I  had  all  along  anticipated. 
Her  capacity  for  receiving  impressions  had 
been  exhausted  by  the  city  of  New  York,  and 
after  seeing  the  "high-scraps"  nothing  as 
tonished  her. 


Russian  Soul  and  American  Spirit    165 

As  we  stood  at  the  bottom  of  the  American 
Falls,  watching  the  Maid  of  the  Mist  making 
her  journeys  into  their  very  spray  and  re 
turning,  only  to  begin  her  journey  again,  I 
suggested  that  it  was  like  the  American 
Spirit  in  its  daring ;  but  the  Herr  Director, 
with  truer  insight,  said  that  it  was  "  like  the 
Russian  Soul,  mystical,  elusive,  on  the  verge 
of  destruction  always,  but  of  little  practical 
service." 

That  same  day  we  were  in  a  power-house, 
which  looked  more  like  a  temple  than  the 
utilitarian  thing  it  is,  and  peered  into  the 
depths  of  a  shaft  which  creates  power  enough 
to  move  the  street  railways  of  half  a  dozen 
cities,  and  change  the  night  of  a  million 
people  into  day.  As  we  listened  to  the 
engineer's  account  of  almost  miraculous 
achievement,  I  said  triumphantly,  "  This  is 
the  American  Spirit!'1  and  the  Herr  Di 
rector  replied  deliberately,  and  without  sar 
casm,  "  This  is  the  one  time  when  you  are 
right" 


IX 

Chicago 

WHAT  the  foreigner  thinks  of  the 
American  Pullman,  if  he  has  to 
spend  a  night  in  it,  may  be  found 
in  any  volume  of  the  extremely  voluminous 
and  interesting  literature  upon  the  United 
States,  written  by  visitors  to  this  country ; 
but  more  interesting  still  would  be  what 
they  have  not  written  about  it,  and  that  I 
have  had  frequent  chances  of  hearing.  The 
most  picturesque  and  exhaustive  comments  I 
ever  heard  were  those  made  by  the  Herr 
Director  the  evening  we  left  Buffalo,  and  as 
he  finally  determined  not  to  retire  at  all,  we 
spent  the  greater  part  of  the  night  in  the 
smoking-room,  much  to  the  dismay  of  the 
porter  who  had  no  prejudice  against  sleeping 
on  a  Pullman,  and  whom  we  cheated  out  of 
his  irregular  but  necessary  naps. 

One  of  the  chief  diversions  of  travellers  the 
1 66 


Chicago  167 

world  over  is  to  complain  against  the  par 
ticular  transportation  company  over  whose 
road  they  have  the  ill  luck  to  be  going ;  so 
it  happened  that  the  Herr  Director  had 
plenty  of  company  during  part  of  his  vigil, 
and  an  opportunity  to  come  in  touch  with 
one  phase  of  the  American  Spirit,  where  it 
was  closely  related  to  his  own  ;  for  "  one 
'  kicker '  makes  the  whole  world  '  kick.1 " 

The  small  room  was  so  crowded  that  some 
of  the  men  were  sitting  on  the  wash-stands, 
and  the  rest  were  so  close  to  each  other  as  to 
make  conversation  easy  and  general.  This 
was  an  extra  fare  train  supposed  to  be  un 
usually  comfortable  and  speedy ;  although 
thus  far  it  had  been  losing  time.  It  was 
natural  under  those  conditions  that  the  rail 
road  should  come  in  for  its  share  of  blessings, 
couched  in  language  such  as  is  often  heard 
in  smoking  compartments  of  Pullman  cars. 
Had  all  the  pious  wishes  expressed  that 
night  been  fulfilled,  that  railroad  and  our 
particular  train  would  have  travelled  much 
more  swiftly,  but  to  a  destination  not  indicated 
in  the  time-tables. 


1 68    Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

The  question  under  discussion  was,  which 
is  the  worst  railroad  in  the  United  States, 
and  as  some  of  the  men  were  stock-brokers 
they  knew  our  roads  from  their  most  vulner 
able  side.  The  tales  they  told  of  the  ma 
nipulation  of  stocks  and  the  fleecing  of  the 
public,  with  their  consequent  effect  upon  the 
service,  were  as  startling  as  they  were  hu 
miliating  ;  because,  in  the  last  analysis,  the 
railroads  reflect  the  general  business  ethics  of 
the  country. 

I  kept  out  of  the  discussion,  for  not  only 
have  I  but  a  hazy  notion  of  economics ;  my 
mind  was  busy  classifying  the  passengers' 
racial  origin,  a  very  diverting  exercise  and 
one  which  always  brings  me  in  touch  with 
people  on  their  really  human  side. 

It  happened  that  two  of  the  men  were 
Polish  Jews  from  Cleveland,  who  had  risen 
from  poverty  to  where  they  could  travel  in 
Pullman  cars,  and  who  confessed  that  they 
knew  as  little  of  railroad  stocks  as  I,  although 
they  were  engaged  in  as  risky  a  business  as 
stocks,  that  of  manufacturing  women's  cloaks. 
They  were  not  far  removed  from  the  Ghetto 


Chicago  169 

either  in  speech  or  ideals,  and  so  were  of 
little  interest  to  me. 

A  third  fellow  traveller,  who  bore  the  hall 
marks  of  the  average  American,  both  in  dress 
and  behavior,  told  me  his  business  without 
much  urging.  "  I  am  not  selling  stock,  nor 
manufacturing  women's  cloaks,  and  I  am  not 
a  gambler.  I  have  a  sure  thing;  I  am  a 
bookie."  Forced  to  confess  myself  ignorant 
as  to  what  "  a  bookie "  is,  he  explained  to 
me  the  intricacies  of  his  calling,  the  problems 
of  evading  the  law,  and  if  it  cannot  be 
evaded,  how  it  may  be  bought ;  incidentally 
showing  what  an  inveterate  gambler  and 
what  an  easy  mark  the  average  American  is. 

The  Herr  Director  was  all  attention,  to  my 
great  consternation  ;  for  the  conversation  was 
as  different  from  that  which  he  had  heard  at 
Lake  Mohonk,  or  in  our  rounds  of  the  Eastern 
colleges,  as  one  could  conceive.  As  one  by 
one  the  passengers  sought  their  berths,  the 
Herr  Director  thanked  me  for  arranging  this 
uncomfortable  night  journey,  saying  that 
though  he  was  sure  he  could  not  sleep,  he 
was  "  so  glad  to  have  come  in  contact  with 


170    Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

the  American  Spirit  as  it  is,"  and  not  as  I 
had  tried  to  make  it  appear.  With  that  kindly 
thrust  he  too  retired,  and  I  was  at  liberty  to 
do  likewise. 

It  was  not  long  before  I  had  auricular  evi 
dence  that  the  Herr  Director  was  asleep,  so  I 
was  very  much  astonished  to  hear  him  say 
the  next  morning  that  he  had  not  slept  a 
wink,  and  that  the  engineer  must  bear  him  a 
grudge ;  for  he  tried  to  jerk  the  berth  from 
under  him,  and  "  Gott  sei  dank"  that  the 
most  uncomfortable  night  of  his  life  was 
over.  I  certainly  was  as  grateful  as  he.  It 
was  with  no  small  satisfaction,  though,  that 
upon  reaching  Chicago  two  hours  late,  I  col 
lected  four  dollars  from  that  much  abused 
railroad,  and  handed  the  same  to  the  Herr 
Director,  assuring  him  that  even  in  a  railroad 
office  the  American  Spirit  of  fairness  is  opera 
tive. 

In  Chicago  as  everywhere  else  the  friend 
who  owned  an  automobile  was  at  my  com 
mand,  and  on  a  glorious  May  day  when  wind 
and  sun  had  cleared  the  air,  and  a  night's 
rain  had  washed  the  streets,  we  were  taken 


Chicago  171 

from  South  Shore  to  North  Shore  and  away 
out  where  the  American  city  is  at  her  best, 
and  Chicago  is  striving  to  excel  them  all  in 
her  wonderful  suburbs. 

The  Herr  Director  had  seen  Chicago  over 
thirty-three  years  ago — a  young,  thriving, 
daring,  ambitious  city  in  the  making;  he 
found  her  still  young,  thriving,  daring,  and 
in  the  making.  Unchastened  by  her  great 
disasters,  undismayed  by  her  vexing  prob 
lems,  defying  the  lake,  she  reaches  out  into  it 
and  into  neighboring  states,  leading  and  con 
trolling  the  whole  Middle  West.  Babylon, 
Capernaum,  Rome,  her  older  sisters,  her 
ideal,  and  perchance  her  destiny.  She  is 
par  excellence  the  merchant  city,  and  the 
merchant  princes  rule  her,  although  that  rule 
is  not  unchallenged. 

While  the  Herr  Director  saw  the  city 
changed  in  many  respects,  larger,  and  in 
places  beautiful,  her  dirt  not  so  apparent, 
her  wickedness  subdued,  and  her  rough 
corners  rubbed  off,  she  is  still  Chicago,  a 
synonym  for  boastful  bigness  and  ostenta 
tious  wealth. 


172    Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

If  it  had  not  been  for  the  Frau  Directorin, 
I  would  not  have  taken  them  where  every 
man,  woman  and  child  is  taken  who  visits 
Chicago,  into  the  largest  department  store  in 
the  world. 

She  entered  with  the  joyful  anticipation  of 
engaging  in  that  most  exciting  occupation — 
shopping — aided  and  abetted  by  my  wife. 
The  Herr  Director  followed  with  the  martyr's 
air  common  to  husbands  who  go  along  to 
pay  the  bill. 

That  type  of  store  is  no  longer  a  novelty 
to  city  dwellers  anywhere,  but  this  one  be 
cause  of  its  size,  the  variety  and  quality  of 
goods  displayed,  the  courtesy  to  customers 
and,  above  all,  the  provisions  for  their  com 
fort  and  convenience,  were  remarkable 
enough  to  call  forth  even  the  Herr  Director's 
commendation.  The  Frau  Directorin  was  in 
the  seventeenth  Heaven,  the  Biblical  seventh 
not  being  an  elevation  high  enough  to  be 
used  as  a  simile  when  she  was  shopping  in  a 
Chicago  department  store. 

Obliging  clerks  showed  her  plates  which 
cost  three  hundred  dollars  apiece,  cut  and 


Chicago  173 

etched  glass  at  more  fabulous  prices ;  she 
walked  through  miles  of  costly  gowns,  coats 
and  millinery,  and  having  made  a  few  pur 
chases  to  her  entire  satisfaction — we  were 
about  to  leave  the  store  with  flying  colors, 
figuratively  speaking,  when  pride  had  a  fall. 
Unluckily  remembering  that  a  certain  small 
boy  needed  summer  underwear,  my  wife  led 
our  party  to  the  basement.  When  we  left 
the  elevator  a  polite  floor  man  directed  us  to 
aisle  1 6,  Wabash  Building.  As  we  were  on 
the  State  Street  side  the  cavalcade  moved 
past  what  seemed  like  miles  of  commonplace 
merchandise  and  commonplace  buyers  to 
aisle  1 6,  Wabash  Building.  At  last  we  had 
reached  our  "  Mecca." 

"  I  should  like  to  see  boys'  union  suits," 
my  wife  said. 

"  Certainly.     How  old  ?  " 

"  Twelve  years." 

"  We  have  nothing  here  over  eight  years. 
You  will  find  your  size  on  the  sixth  floor, 
Washington  Street  side." 

I  think  it  was  the  sixth  floor ;  I  know  we 
walked  (crestfallen)  through  endless  aisles 


174    Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

and  were  shot  up  floor  after  floor.  Landed 
finally,  the  right  counter  was  reached  after 
numerous  conflicting  directions. 

The  Herr  Director  was  puffing  and  pant 
ing,  the  Frau  Directorin  radiant  and  happy, 
for  she  enjoys  exercise,  and  my  wife,  her  faith 
in  the  efficiency  of  her  favorite  store  not  yet 
shaken,  though  wavering,  asking  for  "  union 
suits  for  a  twelve-year-old  boy0" 

As  the  clerk  reached  for  the  desired  ar 
ticle  she  asked:  "Short  sleeves  or  long 
sleeves  ?  " 

"  Short  sleeves.'1 

"  Randolph  Street  side,  second  floor,  for 
short  sleeved  union  suits." 

The  Herr  Director  and  I  did  not  accom 
pany  the  ladies  on  their  further  voyage  of  dis 
covery  ;  we  went  to  the  rest  room  to  avoid 
nervous  prostration. 

My  wife  and  the  Frau  Directorin,  with  the 
determination  and  endurance  which  women 
alone  possess,  continued  the  chase  to  a 
victorious  finish. 

Fortunately  an  altogether  satisfying  lunch 
eon  followed  this  strenuous  experience,  after 


Chicago  175 

which,  rested  and  refreshed,  we  repaired  to 
the  Art  Institute. 

The  Chicago  Art  Institute,  within  a  stone's 
throw  of  the  most  congested  business  section, 
at  the  edge  of  its  noise  and  rush,  is  by  its 
very  being  there  a  sort  of  triumph. 

The  Herr  Director  approached  it  somewhat 
condescendingly,  expecting  to  find  it  and  its 
contents  big,  bizarre  and  "  nouveau  rich- 
essque"  As  soon  as  he  entered  the  building 
he  felt  the  dignity  and  good  taste  of  its  ar 
rangement,  and  his  manner  changed.  After 
he  had  looked  critically  at  some  of  the  pictures 
and  approved  them,  I  knew  myself  for  once 
on  the  way  to  success  ;  for  his  praise  was  as 
genuine  as  his  criticism. 

Knowing  that  money  can  buy  both  Old  and 
New  Masters,  he  expected  to  find  them ;  but 
he  had  not  expected  to  see  such  discrimina 
tion  as  was  shown  in  choosing  and  hanging 
them.  He  was  entirely  unprepared  for  the 
excellent  work  of  our  native  artists,  outside  of 
that  small  but  exalted  sphere  occupied  by 
Whistler,  Sargent,  Innes,  etc. 

My  joy  was  complete  when  we  were  taken 


176    Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

into  the  Art  School  by  the  Director,  Dr. 
French,  whose  death  not  long  ago  must  al 
ways  be  deplored.  The  rooms  of  the  Art 
School  were  crowded  by  boys  and  girls  of 
all  ages  and  varied  nationalities  and  races, 
learning  to  develop  their  God-given  talents 
under  the  guidance  of  competent  and 
sympathetic  teachers.  The  picture  they 
made  delighted  me  more  than  those  they 
drew  or  painted  ;  for  it  seemed  so  thoroughly, 
generously,  democratically  and  artistically 
American. 

I  scored  another  victory  for  the  American 
Spirit  when  I  introduced  my  guests  to  Lprado 
Taft,  sculptor,  and  the  guiding  star  in 
Chicago's  artistic  firmament.  In  his  rare 
personality,  strength  and  purity,  idealism 
and  practical  good  sense  blend,  and  his  art 
reflects  the  man.  He  showed  us  some  of  his 
work  and  that  of  his  pupils,  and  both  elicited 
unstinted  praise  from  my  guests. 

The  climax  of  our  visit  came  when  we  re 
turned  to  the  entrance  hall  which  we  found 
crowded  by  public  school  children,  all  listen 
ing  to  an  orchestra  composed  of  certain  of 


Chicago  1 77 

their  number,  and  led  by  a  young  girl  about 
fourteen  years  of  age.  It  seemed  to  me  a 
remarkable  and  beautiful  combination.  The 
marbles  and  pictures,  the  music,  and,  best  of 
all,  the  children  happily  wandering  about  the 
place.  When  the  program  ended  there  was 
ice-cream  for  everybody,  served  by  the 
teachers  who  accompanied  the  children.  It 
was  a  real  party,  an  American  party,  and  we 
might  have  travelled  long  and  far  before  I 
could  have  found  anything  which  would  have 
better  reflected  for  my  guests  the  American 
Spirit  at  its  best. 

If  I  were  an  artist  and  a  sculptor  I  should 
like  to  portray  the  spirit  of  Chicago  as  one 
feels  it  in  this  museum.  I  would  model  a 
group,  with  its  central  figure  that  same 
sculptor,  the  finely  bred  American,  clean  and 
wholesome,  who  longs  to  create,  not  only 
the  city  beautiful,  but  the  city  human.  He 
should  be  surrounded  by  the  children,  happily 
looking  at  pictures  and  listening  to  music  as 
we  saw  them  in  the  Art  Institute  that  day. 

But  there  must  be  another  prominent 
figure  in  my  group :  the  heartless,  ruthless, 


178    Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

twentieth  century  American,  with  clean 
shaven  face,  jaws  strong  as  a  vise,  and  a 
chin  like  the  base  of  an  anvil.  He  is  the 
man  who  "makes  a  good  husband,"  and 
partly  obeys  the  Scriptural  injunction:  be 
cause  he  provides  for  his  own.  He  too 
should  be  surrounded  by  children ;  not  his, 
but  the  children  who  work  in  his  factories 
and  have  to  live  in  his  rickety  tenements. 
The  two  men  would  struggle  mightily  for 
supremacy  in  the  city's  life  ;  and  I  would  set 
up  my  sculptured  group  in  the  busiest  place, 
where  all  who  passed  it  by  might  see,  and 
seeing,  help  him  who  was  struggling  for 
beauty  and  for  happiness. 

Dr.  French,  the  Herr  Director  and  I  had  a 
long  discussion  about  my  conception  of  the 
two  natures  contending  within  the  city.  The 
Herr  Director  argued  that  the  merchant 
spirit,  so  prevalent  here,  when  uncontrolled 
and  uncurbed,  is  more  dangerous  to  civiliza 
tion  and  to  our  democracy  than  the  military 
spirit  of  Germany,  and  that  it  needs  to  be 
overcome  by  a  force  greater  and  stronger 
than  itself.  The  corrupting  element  he  said 


Chicago  1 79 

has  always  been  this  same  merchant  spirit, 
and  where  ancient  civilizations  decayed,  it 
was  due  to  the  fact  that  it  debased  kings  and 
enslaved  them  by  luxuries. 

"  Business  should  not  control,  but  be  con 
trolled,  because  business  is  based  entirely 
upon  selfishness."  When  the  Herr  Director 
stopped  for  breath,  Dr.  French,  who  was  an 
ardent  Christian  and  knew  his  Bible,  took 
from  his  pocket  a  New  Testament,  and 
pointed  out  a  remarkable  chapter  in  the 
Book  of  Revelation  (a  chapter  I  was  com 
pelled  to  confess  I  had  not  read)  that  bore 
out  the  Herr  Director's  statement. 

"  The  kings  of  the  earth  committed  fornica 
tion  with  her,  and  the  merchants  of  the  earth 
waxed  rich  by  the  power  of  her  wantonness. 
.  .  .  And  the  merchants  of  the  earth 
weep  and  mourn  over  her,  for  no  man  buyeth 
their  merchandise  any  more ;  merchandise 
of  gold,  and  silver,  and  precious  stones,  and 
pearls,  and  fine  linen,  and  purple,  and  silk, 
and  scarlet ;  and  all  thyine  wood,  and  every 
vessel  of  ivory,  and  every  vessel  made  of 
most  precious  wood,  and  of  brass,  and  iron, 


i8o    Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

and  marble ;  and  cinnamon,  and  spice,  and 
incense,  and  ointment,  and  frankincense,  and 
wine,  and  oil,  and  fine  flour,  and  wheat,  and 
cattle,  and  sheep ;  and  merchandise  of  horses 
and  chariots  and  slaves ;  and  souls  of  men." 

We  urged  Dr.  French  to  read  the  rest  of 
the  chapter,  which  he  did. 

"And  they  cast  dust  upon  their  heads, 
and  cried,  weeping  and  mourning,  saying: 
Woe,  woe,  the  great  city,  wherein  were  made 
rich  all  that  had  their  ships  in  the  sea  by 
reason  of  her  costliness  !  for  in  one  hour  is 
she  made  desolate,"  and  then  the  voice  of 
the  angel  crying  into  the  thick  of  their 
lament,  "  Rejoice  over  her,  thou  Heaven  and 
ye  saints,  and  ye  apostles,  and  ye  prophets  ; 
for  God  hath  judged  your  judgment  on  her." 
It  seemed  as  though  the  prophet  had  written 
the  epitaph  of  all  cities  in  which  the  merchant 
was  master  and  not  servant. 

When  he  had  finished  I  knew  the  inscrip 
tion  for  my  sculptured  group  :  the  twentieth 
verse  of  the  eighteenth  chapter  of  Revela 
tion. 

Altogether  it  was  a  remarkable  day  to  be 


Chicago  1 8 1 

experienced  only  in  America,  perhaps  only 
in  Chicago.  To  shop  in  the  largest  store  in 
the  world,  visit  a  picture  gallery  well  worth 
while,  and  see  art  students  at  work ;  hear 
classical  music  played  by  a  children's 
orchestra,  and  watch  the  same  children  en 
joying  the  party  which  followed ;  to  meet 
one  of  the  leading  sculptors  of  America  who 
shared  with  us  his  plans  and  hopes,  and  to 
have  as  our  guide  the  Director  of  the  Art 
Institute,  was  a  colossal  experience  worthy 
of  the  city  in  which  it  happened. 

The  next  day  was  given  to  the  Juvenile 
Court,  Public  Play  Grounds,  the  University, 
and,  finally,  Hull  House.  The  one  great  dis 
appointment  of  the  Chicago  visit  for  me  and 
my  guests  was  Miss  Jane  Addams'  absence 
in  Europe.  But  the  House  was  there — big, 
neighborly,  homelike,  hospitable — and  the 
residents  were  there,  those  who  do  the 
neighboring,  the  healing  and  the  helping, 
who  are  friends  of  the  friendless,  and  know 
no  creed  or  race — except  humanity. 

My  faith  in  Chicago  springs  largely  from 
my  contact  with  Hull  House,  The  Commons 


1 82    Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

and  like  places  with  their  defiant  spirit 
towards  evil,  their  broad-mindedness  and 
their  brave  attempt  at  remedying  the  wrongs 
of  our  commercialized  civilization. 

After  dinner  I  "  toted  "  my  guests  all  over 
the  House,  from  the  reading-room  on  the 
first  floor  to  the  Boys'  Club  on  the  third,  and 
back  again.  I  have  done  it  frequently,  and 
always  with  zest  and  pride,  in  spite  of  the 
fact  that  I  have  had  no  active  share  in  the 
work. 

In  Bowen  Hall  we  came  upon  a  dancing 
party.  Some  one  of  the  social  clubs  had 
been  gracious  enough  to  invite  its  parents  to 
come.  We  were  introduced  to  Mrs.  Frank- 
elstein  from  Roumania,  and  Mrs.  Flynn  from 
Ireland,  Mrs.  Ragovsky  from  Russia,  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Feketey  from  Hungary,  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Rocco  from  Italy,  and  many  others 
whose  picturesque  names  I  do  not  remember. 

We  also  met  a  young  business  man,  the 
son  of  a  millionaire,  with  sundry  other  young 
men  and  women  of  the  type  one  likes  to 
meet  and  introduce,  whom  one  would  be 
proud  to  know  anywhere.  They  had  charge 


Chicago  183 

of  the  affair.  The  Herr  Director  and  the 
Frau  Directorin  caught  the  spirit  of  the  oc 
casion  and  entered  into  it  with  zest.  When 
the  orchestra  began  to  play,  he  led  the  Grand 
March  with  Mrs.  Rocco  and  she  followed 
with  the  young  millionaire.  At  the  close  of 
the  festivities,  as  we  were  leaving,  they  vowed 
they  had  had  the  best  time  since  they  left 
home. 

Chicago,  big,  blundering,  materialistic 
Chicago  had  a  new  meaning  to  the  Herr 
Director.  He  praised  everything  and  every 
body,  and  as  we  parted  for  the  night,  he 
said  :  "  '  Almost  thou  persuadest  me  to  '  be 
lieve  in  the  '  American  Spirit.'  " 


Where  the  Spirit  is  Young 

TO  the  average  European  there  are 
two  things  American   which  have 
not  yet  lost  their  romantic  quality : 
The  prairies  and  the  West. 

Anticipations  of  seeing  both,  filled  the 
breast  of  the  Frau  Directorin  with  mingled 
feelings  of  fear  and  pleasure,  as  she  discussed 
with  her  husband  the  fate  of  the  children  they 
had  left  behind  them — in  the  event  of  our  be 
ing  captured  by  the  Indians.  However,  the 
probability  of  our  safe  return  and  her  conse 
quent  opportunity  to  tell  envious  friends  her 
experiences  in  the  prairies  and  the  West  out 
weighed  all  fears. 

Among  her  friends  were  those  who  had 
braved  the  perils  of  the  ocean  and  gone  as 
far  as  New  York ;  some  of  them  had  even 
been  in  Chicago — but  beyond,  still  hidden  in 

the   romance   woven    about   them    by    Bret 
184 


Where  the  Spirit  is  Young       1 8  5 

Harte  (her  favorite  American  author),  were 
those  two  things  she  was  about  to  see,  and 
of  which  they  had  only  dreamed. 

The  Herr  Director,  as  he  repeatedly  re 
minded  me,  had  crossed  the  plains  when  I 
had  known  them  only  through  Cooper's  fas 
cinating  Indian  stories,  and  he  was  eager  to 
throw  off  the  leadership  I  had  assumed, 
which,  to  a  dominant  nature  like  his,  proved 
exceedingly  irksome. 

He  soon  discovered  that  he  was  travelling 
through  territory  entirely  new  to  him.  The 
little  towns  he  had  known  had  grown  into 
cities,  and  the  further  west  we  travelled, 
the  greater  and  more  impressive  were  the 
changes. 

Omaha  and  Kansas  City  he  did  not  recog 
nize  at  all.  Not  only  was  there  this  new 
growth,  "  rank  growth,"  he  called  it,  of  sky 
scrapers,  post-offices  and  railroad  stations 
with  Doric  pillars — the  men  and  women  he 
met  had  a  new  outlook  upon  life.  While 
they  still  boasted  of  this  and  that  thing  in 
which  their  city  was  like  Chicago  or  was  un 
like  some  lesser  city  than  their  own,  they 


1 86    Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

were  critical  of  themselves  and  eager  to 
learn ;  they  had  grown  more  masterful  and 
at  the  same  time  were  more  refined. 

The  prairies  were  not  at  all  what  the  Frau 
Directorin  had  imagined  them  to  be.  She 
was  chagrined  to  find  nothing  but  farm  lands 
and  great  fields,  not  so  well  groomed  as  those 
we  had  seen  in  the  East,  but  with  no  Indians 
or  buffaloes,  no  wild  horses  or  wilder  looking 
men. 

She  saw  no  trace  of  the  toil,  the  struggle 
and  the  brave  resistance  through  which  these 
farms  had  been  rescued  from  the  prairies. 
She  could  not  know  of  the  loneliness  of 
women  and  the  hardihood  of  men,  of  the 
season's  drought  and  famine,  of  bitter  disap 
pointment,  the  pangs  of  bearing  and  rearing 
children  in  utter  isolation,  and  the  struggle 
for  education. 

No  trace  of  all  this  was  apparent  in  the 
sort  of  settled,  middle  class  prosperity  which 
stretched  out  in  the  unvaried,  thousand  mile 
panorama  through  which  we  journeyed. 

In  a  town  of  about  four  thousand  inhabit 
ants  we  stopped ;  the  name  of  the  place  is 


Where  the  Spirit  is  Young       187 

of  no  significance,  for  there  are  hundreds  of 
just  such  towns  in  the  West.  We  were  met 
by  the  superintendent  of  schools,  himself  a 
product  of  the  prairies.  Having  grown  up 
among  the  cattle,  he  is  consequently  shy  of 
men.  He  drove  his  automobile  as  if  it  were 
a  broncho,  and  we  all  uttered  a  prayer  of 
thanksgiving  when  he  deposited  us,  with  no 
bones  broken,  at  the  hotel.  In  a  short  time 
we  were  ready  to  go  with  him  to  his  school, 
which  was  the  objective  point  of  our  visit. 

It  goes  without  saying  that  the  superintend 
ent  boasted  of  the  youth  of  the  town,  even 
as  under  like  circumstances  in  the  East,  he 
would  have  boasted  of  its  age. 

Ten  years  before  it  was  nothing  except  a 
railroad  station,  miles  of  sage-brush,  rattle 
snakes  and  prairie  dogs.  Now  there  are 
business  blocks,  embryonic  sky-scrapers,  a 
pillared  post-office,  a  hundred-thousand-dollar 
hotel,  a  Grand  Opera  House,  neither  big 
enough  nor  good  enough  to  boast  of,  numer 
ous  churches  and  this  schoolhouse.  It  is 
not  only  a  place  in  which  boys  and  girls 
learn  the  "three  R's,"  but  has  a  finely 


1 88    Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

equipped  gymnasium,  a  chemical  laboratory 
and  a  Domestic  Science  department.  It  is 
a  center  of  education  and  recreation,  not 
only  for  that  town,  but  for  the  surrounding 
country. 

I  had  never  seen  the  Herr  Director  as  en 
thusiastic  over  anything  as  he  was  over  this 
cowboy  school  superintendent,  with  his  pro 
gram  of  reaching  every  man,  woman  and 
child  in  the  county  through  his  educational 
and  recreational  program,  his  annual  budget 
of  some  seventy- five  thousand  dollars,  and  a 
faculty  of  men  and  women  college  bred,  and 
citizens  of  the  town.  They  are  not  merely 
educated  tramps,  but  are  there  to  stay,  and 
they  take  pride  in  the  town  in  which  they 
make  their  home. 

The  Herr  Director  was  no  less  amused 
than  I  was  when  we  were  told  by  one  of  the 
teachers  that  the  superintendent,  at  one  of 
the  school  board  meetings  had  pulled  off  his 
coat  and  threatened  to  thrash  one  of  the 
members  who  refused  his  vote  on  an  impor 
tant  measure.  As  we  looked  at  this  six  foot 
three,  erstwhile  cowboy,  his  broad  shoulders 


Where  the  Spirit  is  Young       189 

and  strong  arms  which  seemed  reluctantly 
confined  in  a  coat,  and  as  we  saw  his  square, 
determined  jaw, — we  knew  that  the  unruly 
member  voted  aye. 

Both  the  Herr  Director  and  I  were  asked 
to  speak  to  the  boys  and  girls.  As  soon  as 
they  entered  the  room  the  air  became  elec 
tric  with  their  high  school  yell ;  they  "  rah 
rahed  "  us  individually  and  collectively,  and 
"  what's  the  matter  withed  "  everybody,  and 
indulged  in  all  those  academic  and  classical 
performances  which  every  high  school  now 
seems  to  consider  an  essential  part  of  prep 
aration  for  college. 

The  Herr  Director  told  them  that  among 
all  the  things  he  had  seen  thus  far  in  Amer 
ica  he  liked  their  high  school  the  best; 
which  remark  of  course  elicited  thunderous 
applause.  This  was  most  gratifying  to  him, 
and  all  day  he  was  in  high  spirits.  He 
thought  the  most  hopeful  characteristic  of  the 
American  is  this  faith  in  education,  the  prac 
tical,  far-reaching  methods  employed,  and 
the  daring  all  sorts  of  educational  experi 
ments.  At  the  same  time  he  severely  criti- 


190    Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

cized  our  lack  of  unanimity,  and  the  evident 
disadvantages  of  such  communities  as  have 
no  cowboy  superintendent  to  lick  a  conserv 
ative  or  stingy  school  board  member  into 
conformity  with  his  plans. 

We  visited  an  agricultural  college  where 
we  were  told  of  farmers  who  came  to  study 
soil  fertility,  and  farmers'  wives  who  studied 
kitchen  chemistry,  farmers'  children  who 
tested  seeds,  and  to  whom  these  prairies,  to 
which  they  were  being  bound  by  an  intelli 
gent  knowledge  of  their  environment,  were 
beginning  to  speak  a  new  language. 

We  saw  a  teacher's  college  which  one 
with  the  prophet's  vision  had  planted  in  the 
desert.  The  sage-brush  ridden  prairie  had 
been  transformed  into  a  glorious  campus, 
and  uncultured  boys  and  girls  into  enthusi 
astic  teachers.  More  than  twelve  hundred 
of  them  come  back  each  year  to  get  better 
equipment  for  their  difficult  task. 

The  cities  in  which  we  stopped  interested 
the  Herr  Director  less  than  the  towns,  and 
we  did  not  tarry  long  except  in  one  of  them, 
where  we  had  to  stay  because  of  an  engage- 


Where  the  Spirit  is  Young       191 

ment  I  had  made  to  address  a  certain  club. 
I  did  this  because  it  gave  me  a  fine  chance 
to  introduce  that  particular  American  insti 
tution,  a  combination  of  eating  and  speaking 
club,  which  meets  once  a  month  and  whose 
program  is  as  ambitious  as  are  most  things 
Western. 

We  were  met  at  the  station  by  a  com 
mittee  of  men  and  women  in  automobiles  of 
course,  and  found  the  finest  rooms  in  the 
hotel  reserved  for  us.  Big,  high,  generous 
rooms,  in  which  the  Herr  Director  and  the 
Frau  Directorin  openly  rejoiced. 

The  committee  awaited  us  in  a  private 
dining-room  where  luncheon  was  served. 
There  were  three  other  guests  who  were  to 
speak  during  the  evening.  One  of  them,  a 
most  brilliant  woman,  a  well-known  social 
worker.  The  second  a  United  States  Sen 
ator,  and  the  third  an  explorer  who  had  just 
returned  from  a  voyage  into  some  less 
known  parts  of  South  America. 

The  luncheon  was  sufficiently  elaborate 
and  artistically  served  to  satisfy  both  the 
Herr  Director  and  the  Frau  Directorin,  but 


192    Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

he  protested  when  after  the  meal,  without 
even  a  chance  at  a  nap,  we  were  escorted 
to  waiting  motor  cars,  and  a  long  cavalcade 
of  us  started  on  a  sight-seeing  expedition. 

The  city  was  worth  seeing,  with  its  boule 
vards,  parks  and  playgrounds  ;  its  school- 
house,  churches,  and  clubs.  We  heard 
much  of  its  prospects,  always  so  great  an 
asset  in  the  life  of  our  Western  cities. 

Amusing  and  remarkable  to  the  strangers 
was  the  evident  pride  of  this  committee  in 
the  city,  to  which  they  had  come  from  all 
parts  of  the  country  if  not  of  the  world ;  yet 
they  spoke  of  it  with  a  lover's  affection. 

The  one  thing  underneath  all  this  civic 
pride,  and  finer  than  anything  visible  to  us, 
was  the  fight  for  decency,  law  and  order, 
and  the  health  and  happiness  of  children, 
which  has  been  waged  there  and  is  not  yet 
won.  It  is  as  exciting  as,  and  more  valor 
ous  than,  many  a  battle  in  which  men  fight 
with  powder  and  bullets. 

It  was  an  exhilarating  experience  to  shake 
the  hand  and  look  into  the  face  of  a  woman 
who  had  defied  the  monied  interests  of  her 


Where  the  Spirit  is  Young       193 

state,  who  had  jeopardized  her  comforts  and 
her  position,  even  her  life,  to  loosen  the  hold 
of  graft  from  the  schools  of  the  state. 

It  was  inspiring  to  hear  from  a  mild  man 
nered,  unaggressive  looking  man  how  he  had 
helped  wipe  out  brothels  and  evil  dance 
halls,  broken  up  the  connivance  of  the 
police  with  the  criminal  element  and  put 
through  a  positive  program  of  rational, 
clean  amusements  for  the  people. 

We  visited  a  business  plant,  the  archi 
tecture  and  equipment  of  which  are  as 
unique  as  are  its  owner's  business  methods. 
We  were  told  the  story  (not  by  himself)  of 
how  a  brave  and  good  man,  single  handed, 
struggled  against  bosses,  political  cliques 
and  large  financial  interests  in  league  with 
them,  and  all  but  freed  the  city  from  its  most 
dangerously  decent  foes. 

We  were  shown  hills  which  the  citizens 
had  faith  enough  to  remove  and  the  hollows 
into  which  they  had  cast  them  ;  a  raging 
river  which  they  meant  to  control,  and  ugly, 
sickening  slums  which  were  doomed  to  go, 
and  that  none  too  soon ;  the  old  things 


194    Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

which  were  to  become  new,  and  crooked 
things  which  were  to  be  made  straight. 

Thirty-three  years  before  the  Herr  Di 
rector  had  heard  stories  of  vanishing  buf 
faloes  and  the  last  struggles  with  the  Indians. 
He  had  met  scouts,  hunters  and  soldiers. 
This  was  a  new  type  of  fighters,  much  less 
picturesque,  but  fit  successors  to  those  valiant 
pioneers.  I  rescued  my  guests  from  a  visit 
to  the  stock-yards  (why  any  one  should  care 
to  show  off  stock-yards  I  do  not  know),  and 
the  committee  released  its  hold  upon  us  so 
that  we  might  make  our  toilettes  for  the  re 
ception  which  preceded  the  banquet. 

If  there  is  anything  more  conducive  to 
creating  a  barrier  to  real  human  contact 
than  a  reception,  I  have  not  seen  it,  unless 
it  be  a  reception  with  orchestral  accompani 
ment  ;  this  was  such  an  one,  and  its  chief  func 
tion  seemed  to  be  to  drown  conversation. 

The  ladies  of  our  party  were  happy  because 
this  was  one  of  the  few  occasions  on  our  trip 
when  they  could  wear  evening  gowns. 

The  Frau  Directorin  was  astonished  be 
yond  measure  when  she  heard  that  some  of 


Where  the  Spirit  is  Young       195 

the  women  on  the  reception  committee  of 
this  club  were  mothers  (to  a  limited  degree, 
it  is  true),  that  they  had,  at  the  most,  two 
servants,  and  that  some  of  them  had  none ; 
that  they  were  interested  in  Literary  Clubs 
and  civic  affairs,  served  on  school  boards 
and  church  committees,  and  were  doing 
various  other  things  to  help  the  Creator 
manage  His  universe. 

The  German  woman,  who  has  adhered  to 
the  progam  marked  out  for  her  by  the  Em 
peror,  the  "  three  K's,"  "  Kuche,  Kirche  und 
Kinder"  stands  aghast  at  the  strenuous  lives 
many  of  our  women  lead.  The  Frau  Di- 
rectorin,  who  has  servants  for  the  kitchen 
and  the  children,  upon  whom  the  third  K, 
the  Church,  lays  no  burden  in  the  way  of 
missionary  meetings,  fairs  and  suppers,  who 
does  not  have  to  reduce  her  flesh  to  be  in 
the  fashion,  and  whose  social  position  is  de 
termined  by  her  husband's  station  in  life, 
may  well  wear  an  unruffled  smile  and  keep 
an  unfurrowed  brow. 

At  the  banquet,  the  waiters  and  the  or 
chestra  vied  with  each  other  in  noise  mak- 


196    Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

ing,  and  it  was  a  relief  when,  with  the  bring 
ing  of  the  black  coffee,  they  all  disappeared, 
and  the  toast-master  rose  and  began  un- 
bottling  his  stock  of  stories.  Nowhere  in 
the  world  is  there  such  a  thirst  for  stories 
as  in  America,  and  a  group  of  men  after  a 
banquet  has  an  unlimited  capacity  for  ab 
sorbing  and  enjoying  them. 

There  were  four  scheduled  speakers  and  a 
few  who  expected  to  be  called  upon  unex 
pectedly,  among  them  the  Herr  Director ;  a 
Glee  Club  was  to  sing  before,  between  and 
after  the  speeches ;  so  the  toast-master  did 
not  stop  telling  stories  any  too  soon. 

The  first  speaker  of  the  evening  was  a 
woman  who  well  deserved  the  cheers  which 
greeted  her  appearance.  Her  address  on 
Workmen's  Compensation  was  so  clear,  so 
aptly  put,  so  well  reasoned  through  and  so 
within  the  limit  of  time  assigned  her,  that 
when  she  finished,  the  enthusiastic  Herr 
Director  shouted  :  "  Bravo  !  bravo  ! "  loud 
enough  to  be  heard  above  the  less  euphonious 
sound  of  hand  clapping,  in  which  form  of  ap 
plause  the  American  audience  indulges. 


Where  the  Spirit  is  Young        197 

The  address  was  an  eloquent  but  un 
emotional  plea  for  fair  play  for  the  work 
ing  man,  an  arraignment  of  present  practices, 
cruelly  sickening  in  detail,  and  frightful  as  a 
revelation  of  the  attitude  of  large  industrial 
interests  towards  labor.  It  showed  the  fair- 
mindedness  of  the  men  there,  that  they  lis 
tened  so  approvingly,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that 
a  large  number  of  them  was  in  similar  rela 
tionship  to  labor,  and  that  the  proposed  law 
for  which  she  pleaded  would  be  against  their 
own  interests. 

After  the  lady's  address,  the  Glee  Club 
sang  and  then  the  United  States  Senator 
was  introduced.  I  have  forgotten  his  sub 
ject,  but  that  does  not  matter,  for  it  had  no 
relation  to  what  he  said.  It  was  the  kind  of 
address  which  could  be  delivered  with  equal 
propriety  at  a  Grangers'  picnic  or  a  political 
meeting. 

There  were  two  things  which  the  senator 
did  not  know  :  First,  that  his  audience  had 
outgrown  that  particular  kind  of  address, 
and  second,  when  to  stop.  When  his  final 
finally  was  finally  spoken,  the  Glee  Club 


198    Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

sang  again,  after  which  the  Herr  Director 
was  called  upon  to  speak.  He  was  listened 
to  most  attentively  as  he  told  how  German 
cities  are  built,  governed,  provisioned  and 
lighted. 

There  were  at  least  four  speeches  beside 
my  own,  and  it  was  long  past  midnight 
when  the  Glee  Club  sang  its  last  glee,  and 
the  club  adjourned  to  meet  again  the  next 
month,  when  it  would  receive  other  more  or 
less  distinguished  guests,  eat  a  six  course 
dinner  and  listen  to  half  a  dozen  speakers, 
each  one  of  them  eager  to  right  the  wrongs 
of  this  universe. 

When  the  Herr  Director  had  said  good 
bye  to  the  hundred  or  more  people  who  told 
him  how  much  they  enjoyed  his  address,  he 
retired  in  a  most  happy  mood.  I  found  him 
chuckling  as  he  untied  his  cravat. 

"  It  was  lovely,  perfectly  lovely,"  he  said  ; 
"  but  what  children  they  are." 

"  Yes,"  I  replied,  "  they  are  children  ;  and, 
like  children,  are  eager  to  learn." 


XI 

The  American  Spirit  Among  the 
Mormons 

BOTH  the  Herr  Director  and  his  wife 
had  a  strange  desire  to  see  the  Mor 
mons.  They  explained  it  by  saying 
that  besides  the  Indians  whom  they  had  as 
yet  not  seen,  and  the  Negroes  whom  they  had 
seen  everywhere,  they  always  thought  of  the 
Mormons  as  most  American,  that  is  most  un 
like  other  people. 

The  Rocky  Mountains,  as  I  had  expected, 
did  not  impress  them.  From  the  car  window 
they  seemed  more  like  elevated  plains,  with 
here  and  there  a  restless  chain  of  hills  in  the 
distance. 

"  As  restless  as  the  American  people," 
quoth  the  Herr  Director.  "  Your  plains  and 
your  mountains  seem  to  be  fighting  with  each 

other." 

199 


2OO    Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

I  hoped  that  the  plains  would  win  the  fight 
and  pointed  out  another,  more  visible  strug 
gle — that  of  man  with  the  desert.  I  ad 
mitted  that  the  Rocky  Mountains  which  he 
had  thus  far  seen  were  uninteresting  from 
the  scenic  standpoint,  especially  as  compared 
with  the  beauty  of  the  Alps,  those  snow 
capped  mountains  with  meadows  to  the 
timber  line,  their  picturesque  villages  and 
herders'  huts  all  as  trim  and  neat  and  finished 
as  the  carving  one  buys  in  Interlaken  or 
Luzerne. 

From  the  human  standpoint,  the  Rockies 
are  infinitely  more  interesting,  for  there  the 
elemental  struggle  is  still  going  on.  A  giant 
race  is  taming  tumultuous  rivers,  and  forcing 
their  waters  through  flumes  and  tunnels  into 
mighty  reservoirs  on  the  mountainsides  and 
in  the  valleys.  No  indolent,  unaspiring,  un- 
inventive,  docile  people  could  survive  in  the 
Rockies. 

In  common  with  many  Americans,  my 
guests  believed  that  this  matter  of  irrigation 
is  as  easy  as  turning  water  from  a  faucet  into 
a  basin  ;  and  that  all  a  man  has  to  do  is  to 


Among  the  Mormons  201 

drop  his  seed  into  the  ground  and  watch  it 
grow.  I  showed  them  farms,  desolate  and 
forbidding,  which  men  had  to  level  or  lift, 
ditch  and  plow  and  harrow ;  a  back-break 
ing,  often  a  heart-breaking  task.  In  such  an 
environment  they  built  shacks  which  only 
accentuated  the  loneliness — where  women 
lived  and  children  were  born,  where  hopes 
were  cherished  and  God  was  worshipped. 

It  was  an  Old  Testament  environment,  the 
wilderness.  Compared  with  these  pioneers 
the  Israelites  had  an  easy  task.  They  sent 
spies  into  the  Promised  Land  where  they 
found  and  from  which  they  brought  back 
grapes  and  pomegranates  ;  but  to  stay  in  the 
wilderness,  to  drive  back  the  drought  inch 
by  inch,  to  kill  coyotes  and  rattlesnakes  one 
by  one,  to  contend  with  claim  jumpers,  real 
estate  agents,  water  right  privileges  and  un 
scrupulous  lawyers,  and  then  raise  grapes 
and  pomegranates,  families,  churches,  schools 
and  colleges — that  seems  to  me  the  greater 
and  more  heroic  task.  And  it  was  done  by 
men  with  the  courage  of  soldiers  and  the 
vision  of  prophets,  who  turned  that  land 


202    Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

of  drought,  alkali  and  sage-brush  into  one 
"  flowing  with  milk  and  honey."  Because  in 
a  certain  portion  of  that  desert  those  who 
were  the  pioneers  and  performed  those  tasks 
were  Mormons,  takes  nothing  from  the  glory 
of  the  achievement. 

As  we  neared  Salt  Lake  City  the  Frau 
Directorin  looked  into  every  house,  eager  to 
detect  the  numerous  wives  whom  she  ex 
pected  to  see  surrounding  one  man  ;  while  the 
Herr  Director  marvelled  at  the  beauty  of  the 
vast  Salt  Lake  valley  which,  with  its  poplars 
and  mountains  and  its  intensively  cultivated 
farms,  reminded  him  of  Lombardy,  that 
beautiful  stretch  of  country  along  the  railway 
from  Milan  to  Boulogna. 

Salt  Lake  City  is  sufficiently  different  from 
other  cities  we  had  seen  to  arouse  interest ; 
but  as  in  Rome  the  Vatican  overshadows 
everything  else,  so  here  the  Temple  and  the 
Tabernacle  hold  one's  attention,  and  work 
upon  one's  imagination. 

We  had  scarcely  put  ourselves  to  rights  in 
our  rooms  at  the  Hotel  Utah,  as  pretentious 
and  comfortable  as  any  in  the  country,  be- 


Among  the  Mormons  203 

fore  we  were  out  on  the  streets,  looking  for 
Mormons.  There  is  a  fairly  denned  type  and 
I  thought  I  knew  it,  for  I  have  lectured  be 
fore  Mormon  audiences ;  but  out  upon  the 
busy  city  streets  it  was  quite  impossible  for 
me  to  gratify  the  curiosity  of  the  Frau 
Directorin  by  pointing  them  out  to  her.  I 
did  tell  her  that  a  third  of  the  population  was 
non-Mormon  and  she  looked  curiously  at 
two  out  of  every  three  persons  we  met  with 
out,  however,  being  able  to  say  definitely  that 
she  had  seen  a  real,  live  specimen. 

Not  wishing  to  join  the  crowd  of  tourists 
who  were  taken  in  relays  through  the 
Tabernacle  and  other  buildings  open  to  the 
curious  among  the  Gentiles,  we  walked 
through  the  park,  and  stopping  before  the 
monument  to  Joseph  Smith  I  took  the  op 
portunity  to  enlighten  my  guests  upon  the 
history  of  that  singular  personality,  and  the 
church  of  which  he  was  the  founder. 

Evidently  my  remarks  were  overheard, 
and  before  I  realized  it  I  was  in  a  discussion 
of  Mormon  doctrines  with  a  woman,  a  zealous 
defender  of  her  faith,  whose  religious  zeal 


204    Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

shone  out  of  her  face,  which  was  homely 
enough  to  need  this  adornment  to  save  it 
from  repulsive  ugliness. 

Of  course  she  believed  implicitly  in  the 
Book  of  Mormon,  the  plates  of  which  were 
found,  and  translated  from  a  language  which 
the  best  informed  philologists  have  never 
known  to  exist ;  in  a  God  who  has  body, 
parts  and  passions,  in  spirits  which  fill 
Heaven,  and  clamor  to  be  born  onto  the 
Earth,  in  the  baptism  for  the  dead,  and  in 
that  strange  doctrine,  that  no  woman  can  be 
saved  without  being  sealed  to  a  man,  upon 
which  the  practice  of  polygamy  rested. 

The  Herr  Director  did  not  quite  under 
stand,  and  I  had  to  explain  each  of  these 
dogmas  as  well  as  I  could,  and  then  the 
Frau  Directorin,  not  understanding  anything, 
begged  to  be  told  about  the  one  thing  in 
which  she  was  primarily  interested,  their 
belief  in  regard  to  marriage.  I  asked  the 
lady  to  explain  this  doctrine  of  the  Mormons, 
to  which  she  replied  that  they  are  not  Mor 
mons,  but  Latter  Day  Saints.  She  was  in 
deed  a  saint,  for  she  was  not  offended  by  our 


Among  the  Mormons  205 

curiosity,  nor  the  lack  of  seriousness  with 
which  we  were  discussing  the  subject. 

She  addressed  the  Frau  Directorin  :  "  You 
are  married  to  your  husband."  The  Frau 
Directorin  understood  and  nodded  compre- 
hendingly  ;  "but,"  the  saint  continued,  "you 
are  married  to  him  only  for  time." 

"No,  no,  not  for  a  time,  not  for  a  time  I  " 
the  Frau  Directorin  cried,  clinging  to  her 
husband,  who  had  jokingly  threatened  that 
when  they  reached  Utah  he  would  improve 
the  occasion  and  double  his  blessings. 

"You  could  not  be  married  to  him  any 
other  way  unless  you  are  sealed  according  to 
our  rites ;  we  alone  marry  for  eternity." 

"  Oh  !  "  said  the  facetious  Herr  Director, 
"  you  believe  in  eternal  punishment."  When 
I  translated  that  to  the  Frau  Directorin  she 
slapped  him  playfully. 

He  asked  our  guide  how  many  wives  he 
could  marry  if  he  became  a  Latter  Day 
Saint  and  she  said  there  would  be  no  limit  to 
the  wives  he  could  have  sealed  to  him ;  but 
according  to  the  latest  ruling  of  the  church 
and  in  conformity  with  the  laws  of  the  United 


20 6    Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

States,  only  one  to  live  with  here  upon  the 
earth  ;  so  he  decided  to  "  bear  the  ills  he  had," 
and  not  "  fly  to  others  that  he  knew  not  of." 
The  saint  could  not  have  expected  her 
teaching  to  take  root  in  soil  so  shallow,  but 
she  determined  to  sow  a  few  more  seeds, 
and  showed  us  the  interior  of  the  Tabernacle 
with  its  "  largest  organ  in  the  world  and 
its  perfect  acoustics."  The  Frau  Directorin 
tried  her  charming  voice  and  sang,  much  to 
the  delight  of  the  saint,  who  confessed  to 
three  consuming  passions.  She  loved  to 
sing  better  than  to  eat,  next  in  order  came 
dancing,  which  seems  to  be  a  specialty 
among  Mormons,  and  evidently  does  not 
interfere  with  their  piety,  and  third,  that 
of  saving  feminine  souls  from  destruction, 
on  account  of  their  unmarried  state.  To 
satisfy  this  last  passion  she  has  had  ten 
thousand  of  her  female  ancestors  married  to 
well-known  Mormons.  To  accomplish  this, 
she  had  her  genealogical  tree  traced  back  to 
prehistoric  times,  and  had  spent  her  fortune 
upon  that  pious  extravagance.  She  told  us 
that  she  was  a  plural  wife,  and  living  with 


Among  the  Mormons  207 

her  husband  merely  in  the  celestial  relation 
ship  :  but  she  believed  polygamy  to  be  in 
harmony  with  the  will  of  God,  and  that  the 
women  as  a  whole  favor  it. 

As  we  returned  to  our  hotel,  the  Frau 
Directorin  amused  herself  by  asking  each 
child  she  met :  "  How  much  brothers  and 
sisters  you  are  ?  "  I  was  profoundly  thank 
ful  she  did  not  stop  the  men  to  ask  them 
about  the  number  of  their  wives. 

Having  promised  her  that  I  would  intro 
duce  her  to  a  real,  live  Mormon  who  as  yet 
had  only  one  wife,  she  could  hardly  wait 
until  dinner,  to  which  I  had  invited  my 
Mormon  acquaintance.  He  proved  to  be  a 
very  normal  sort  of  man  whose  face  betrayed 
his  European  peasant  ancestry,  his  father 
and  mother  having  emigrated  from  Switzer 
land,  lured  across  by  the  promise  of  land, 
and  an  all  but  perfect  Zion.  They  had 
passed  through  every  hardship  of  the  early 
persecutions,  and  the  march  across  the  plains 
and  mountains.  He  himself  had  grown  up 
in  the  martyrs'  faith,  which  remained  un 
shaken  until  he  was  sent  to  college. 


208    Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

Although  his  teachers  were  Mormons  they 
could  not  explain  away  all  the  inconsistencies 
of  Mormon  history  and  belief;  doubts  as 
sailed  him,  and  when  in  due  course  he  be 
came  a  missionary  and  it  fell  to  his  lot  to  go 
to  Europe,  instead  of  making  converts,  he 
became  one.  The  six  years  abroad  were 
spent  in  the  study  of  history,  and,  applying 
the  methods  to  his  own  church  and  its  Book 
of  Mormon,  he  began  to  doubt,  and  is  a 
doubter  still.  Yet  so  strong  were  the  ties 
that  bound  him  that  he  did  not  formally 
sever  his  connection  with  the  church,  and 
unless  he  is  ejected  from  that  communion  he 
will  doubtless  remain  within  its  fold. 

He  belongs  to  an  increasingly  large  group 
of  young  Mormons  who,  while  they  them 
selves  have  lost  faith  in  the  church  and  its 
doctrines,  believe  that  they  must  remain 
loyal  to  those  whose  belief  is  still  unshaken, 
help  them  to  discard  the  crudest  elements  of 
their  doctrine  and  so  gradually  democratize 
the  whole  institution. 

The  growth  of  the  church  has  been  checked 
and  the  accession  of  foreign  converts  has 


Among  the  Mormons  209 

almost  ceased,  due  to  the  prohibition  of 
polygamy  which  was  a  lure  to  the  evil 
minded,  and  due  also  to  the  fact  that  immi 
gration  is  not  being  encouraged. 

Mormonism  would  have  continued  to  grow 
in  alarming  proportions  if  the  missionaries 
were  still  offering  a  husband,  or  a  part  of 
one,  to  every  woman,  and  to  every  man 
as  many  wives  as  he  cared  to  take  unto 
himself. 

Within  the  church  two  forces  are  working 
towards  its  liberalization.  The  influence  of  a 
strong,  Gentile  population,  and  the  school ; 
while  neither  of  them  will  destroy  Mormon- 
ism,  our  informant  believed  that  ultimately 
it  will  prove  no  more  formidable  or  danger 
ous  to  the  nation  than  any  other  religious 
denomination,  whose  government  is  strongly 
centralized. 

After  dinner  he  took  us  to  his  own  home, 
and  either  from  a  recently  acquired  habit,  or 
from  renewed  curiosity,  the  Frau  Directorin 
asked  the  little  son  of  the  house,  "  How  much 
brothers  and  sisters  you  are  ?  "  and  I  am  not 
sure  she  was  convinced  that  his  wife  whom 


2io    Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

he  introduced  to  us  was  the  only  wife  he 
had. 

He  was  good  enough  to  insist  upon  taking 
us  into  the  country  in  his  machine  to  call  on 
his  father,  his  mother  having  died  some 
years  before  ;  which,  however,  according  to 
Mormon  usage  of  bygone  days  did  not 
leave  the  old  man  a  widower. 

His  gnarled,  wrinkled  face  shone  when  we 
greeted  him  in  his  native  tongue,  and  it  was 
as  pleasant  as  it  was  instructive  to  hear  him 
tell  of  the  emigration  of  his  people  from 
Switzerland  to  Missouri,  of  the  stormy  days 
there,  the  struggles  against  infuriated  mobs, 
the  long,  dangerous  journey  across  the 
desert,  and  the  pioneer  days  in  Utah  where 
he  had  acquired  lands,  sheep  and  oxen, 
wives  and  children,  in  true  Old  Testament 
fashion. 

The  Frau  Directorin  asked :  "  How  much 
wives  you  are  ?  " 

When  he  told  her  that  he  had  gone  be 
yond  the  apostolic  twelve,  although  he 
lived  with  only  a  few  of  the  number,  she 
exclaimed  :  "  Um  Gottes  Himmels  Willen  !  " 


Among  the  Mormons  2 1 1 

The  Herr  Director  wanted  to  know  how 
he  managed  so  many  of  them  when  he  had 
difficulty  in  managing  one. 

"  Ach  /  in  those  days,"  he  said,  "  the  wives 
were  subject  to  their  husband,  knowing  that 
without  him  they  could  not  live  comfortably 
here,  nor  safely  hereafter.  They  were  docile 
enough,  and  it  did  not  cost  so  much  to  keep 
them  as  it  does  now." 

With  a  shrewd  smile  playing  around  his 
almost  toothless  mouth  he  added :  "  You 
know  if  polygamy  had  not  been  prohibited 
it  would  have  died  out  gradually,  because 
these  are  different  times.  We  couldn't  afford 
it  now." 

The  old  man  said  he  had  known  Joseph 
Smith  and,  of  course,  Brigham  Young.  He 
spoke  of  them  with  reverence  and  awe,  as 
men  of  God  who  received  revelations  and 
could  work  wonders.  There  seemed  to  be 
little  or  nothing  of  the  mystic  in  his  make 
up  ;  his  religion  was  of  a  hard,  materialistic, 
matter-of-fact  kind  to  which  he  clung  most 
tenaciously.  There  was  an  unmistakable 
coarseness  about  him  which  revealed  itself 


212    Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

in  his  conversation.  It  may  have  been  due 
to  his  peasant  origin,  but  during  all  the  years, 
a  really  ethical  religion  would  have  refined 
him.  In  a  sense  he  still  did  not  belong  to 
the  United  States — he  was  a  Mormon  first 
and  last,  and  the  government  in  Washington 
was  to  him  as  Pharaoh's  rule  was  to  the 
Jews. 

His  religion  evidently  had  taught  him 
submission.  He  paid  his  tithes  ungrudg 
ingly,  and  had  gone  on  a  mission  uncom 
plainingly.  He  was  a  cog  in  a  great  wheel 
whose  resistless  force  he  did  not  question. 

From  his  farm  we  were  taken  to  others, 
and  to  neighboring  towns.  The  whole 
system  in  all  its  minute  details  was  ex 
plained  to  us,  and  the  Herr  Director  was 
quite  fascinated  by  its  efficiency,  although 
I  am  sure  he  would  not  care  to  be  governed 
by  it.  Everywhere  we  found  prosperous 
conditions  and  outward  contentment,  but 
underneath,  especially  among  the  young 
people,  a  brooding  discontent  and  smoul 
dering  rebellion  ;  yet  at  the  same  time  much 
stolid  ignorance  and  fanaticism. 


Among  the  Mormons  213 

Our  final  visit  was  to  the  University,  built 
solidly  against  the  rocks,  its  great  U  in 
purest  white  marked  upon  the  mountain 
side,  its  very  existence  seeming  a  menace 
to  the  system  which  supports  it. 

There  was  a  fine  group  of  students,  both 
Mormons  and  Gentiles.  The  library  in 
which  I  spent  some  time  astonished  me. 
I  wondered,  as  I  looked  at  some  of  the 
books,  if  the  church  authorities  knew  what 
was  between  the  covers.  Dynamite  under 
the  Temple  walls  could  not  be  as  dangerous 
as  those  volumes. 

Possibly  the  students  are  as  ignorant  of 
their  contents  as  the  leaders  are.  There 
are  books  on  Philosophy  and  Psychology 
which  do  not  seem  to  me  so  menacing  as 
those  on  Economics  and  Sociology  ;  for  it  is 
upon  these  subjects  that  the  questioning  will 
come  first,  and  also  the  discontent. 

After  long  and  confidential  conferences 
with  some  of  the  professors  who  told  me 
their  views,  and  how  they  are  struggling  to 
maintain  their  academic  freedom,  and  after 
long  talks  with  bright,  energetic  boys  and 


214    Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

girls  who  expressed  themselves  freely,  I 
could  assure  the  Herr  Director  that  some 
problems,  which  have  so  long  vexed  the 
United  States  and  have  threatened  certain 
ideals  of  the  American  Spirit,  are  in  process 
of  solution. 

They  are  being  solved  by  virtue  of  the 
broad  tolerance  of  that  spirit,  than  which 
nothing  is  so  feared  by  the  reactionary 
forces  in  the  Mormon  Church. 

One  thing  which  that  institution  desires 
more  than  anything  else  is  renewed  perse 
cution  ;  not  too  much  of  it,  but  enough  to 
rally  the  children  of  the  martyrs  to  face  new 
martyrdom  and  so  perpetuate  the  waning 
power  of  the  church. 

One  must  remember  that  Mormonism  is 
not  only  a  sect,  but  a  strongly  knitted  so 
ciety,  and  that  men  who  have  long  ago 
ceased  to  believe  in  its  doctrines  still  hold  to 
it  with  a  loyalty  born  of  past  suffering,  which 
will  be  fostered  by  any  future  injustice  or 
persecution. 

When  we  left  Salt  Lake  City  and  were 
safe  in  the  Pullman  on  our  way  to  the  Pa- 


Among  the  Mormons  2 1 5 

cific  Coast,  the  Frau  Directorin  put  her  stock 
question  to  the  colored  porter  when  he  came 
to  make  up  the  berths. 

"  How  much  wives  you  are  ?  " 

When  I  interpreted  the  question  for  him 
he  smiled  his  broadest  smile,  but  looked  puz 
zled.  I  told  him  that  the  lady  thought  him 
a  Mormon. 

"No,  ma'am.  Fs  a  Baptist.  But  I  sho'd 
like  to  be  one.  I  likes  de  ladies  poheful." 

He  was  not  a  Mormon,  certainly  not  a 
saint,  but  he  rendered  us  loyal  service  on 
that  long,  dusty  journey  to  the  Coast.  Per 
haps  because  he  "likes  de  ladies  poheful," 
or  it  may  have  been  because  I  gave  him  half 
of  a  generous  tip  in  advance. 


XII 

The  California  Confession  of  Faith 

SINCE  landing  in  New  York  the  Herr 
Director  and  the  Frau  Directorin  had 
endured  many  a  formal  reception  ;  she 
with  angelic  patience,  and  he  with  the  usual 
masculine   aversion   to  formal  social  amen 
ities. 

When  I  announced  that  a  reception  was 
to  be  tendered  us  in  San  Francisco,  he  cried 
with  uplifted  hands,  "  Um  Gottes  Willen  /  " 
He  did  not  object  to  really  meeting  people ; 
but  to  stand  in  line  an  hour  or  two  shaking 
hundreds  of  outstretched  hands,  not  knowing 
nor  caring  much  to  whom  they  belonged, 
seemed  to  him  a  profitless  exercise  ;  while  our 
wafers  and  tea,  or  our  punch — without  those 
ingredients  which  give  the  "punch"  to 
punch — were  gastronomic  delusions  to  one 
accustomed  to  the  abundant  meat  and  drink 
attendant  upon  social  occasions  in  Germany. 

This  particular  reception  was  to  be  given 
216 


The  California  Confession  of  Faith  217 

us  by  the  Chinese,  and  a  committee  of 
stately,  solemn  looking  gentlemen  called  for 
us  in  carriages ;  despite  the  Herr  Director's 
reluctance,  I  am  sure  he  was  delighted  to 
have  this  chance  of  giving  his  jaded  social 
appetite  a  new  sensation. 

Chinatown,  with  its  gay  coloring,  its  tempt 
ing  shops,  its  stolid-looking  men,  its  quaint 
women  and  cunning  babies,  was  made 
doubly  fascinating  to  us,  entering  it  offi 
cially  conducted  and  riding  in  state. 

I  do  not  know  to  this  day  to  just  what 
facts  or  virtues  or  position  in  life  we  owe 
the  attentions  we  received ;  but  it  was  all 
recorded  upon  posters  and  handbills  liberally 
distributed  through  Chinatown,  announcing 
our  advent.  Recorded  upon  them  in  those 
picturesque  characters  with  which  the  Chi 
nese  language  puzzles  its  readers,  were  the 
names  and  eulogies  of  certain  members  of 
our  party.  The  character  which  stood  for  the 
Herr  Director  looked  like  a  top,  a  tree  and 
a  barrel,  while  his  nativity  and  manifold  vir 
tues  were  made  known  in  other  artistic 
symbols. 


2 1 8    Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

I  suspect  that  the  man  to  blame  for  it  all 
was  a  certain  young  American  whose  mixed 
ancestry  has  created  a  rare  and  most  effect 
ive  personality.  He  has  inherited  all  the 
grace  of  his  French  ancestors,  the  tenacity 
(a  virtue  in  which  he  excels)  of  his  Dutch  or 
double  Dutch  progenitors,  and  I  am  sure  he 
can  claim  kinship  with  the  first  man  who 
"  kissed  the  Blarney  stone."  He  could  pull 
the  latch-string  to  any  foreign  colony  in  that 
great  conglomerate  of  peoples,  and  always 
be  greeted  as  one  of  them.  The  Young 
Men's  Christian  Association,  in  whose  name 
he  served,  could  not  have  had  a  more  worthy 
exponent  of  its  social  creed,  and  America 
could  not  have  projected  against  these  for 
eigners  a  better  representative  than  Charles 
W.  Blanpied. 

The  reception  was  held  in  the  Chinese 
Presbyterian  Church,  and  upon  our  arrival 
we  found  it  crowded  by  a  solemn-looking 
company  of  Chinese.  We  were  conducted 
to  the  platform  and  introduced  to  his  Excel 
lency  the  Consul-General,  ministers  of  various 
denominations,  and  dignitaries  of  Chinatown. 


The  California  Confession  of  Faith  219 

This  was  the  first  reception  we  attended 
where  introductions  were  not  followed  by 
vigorous  hand-shaking.  I  am  inclined  to  be 
lieve  that  the  softness  of  the  Oriental  palm  is 
due  to  the  fact  that  it  is  not  vigorously 
pressed  every  time  two  men  meet  each  other. 

The  Herr  Director  was  in  ecstasy  over  the 
beautiful  Chinese  girls  in  the  choir.  Doubt 
less  he  would  have  preferred  sitting  among 
them,  rather  than  where  he  was,  between  the 
Consul-General  and  the  chairman  of  the 
evening. 

The  reception  opened  with  prayer,  as  if  it 
were  a  church  service ;  then  the  choir  sang 
an  anthem,  followed  by  four  speeches  of  wel 
come.  The  first  by  his  Excellency  the  Con 
sul-General  lasted  an  hour  and  seemed  much 
longer,  because  it  was  in  Chinese  and  unin 
telligible  to  us. 

I  was  asked  to  respond,  and,  under  the  cir 
cumstances,  my  remarks  were  brief.  The 
clever  interpreter  made  a  good  deal  of  them, 
judging  by  the  length  of  time  it  took  him, 
and  the  tumultuous  applause  with  which 
every  sentence  was  greeted. 


22O    Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

The  Herr  Director  told  me  it  was  the 
poorest  speech  he  ever  heard ;  but  I  am  in 
clined  to  believe  that  he  was  a  little  jealous 
because  he  was  not  asked  to  speak ;  or  per 
haps  he  was  merely  trying  to  keep  me 
humble,  a  course  which  he  had  consistently 
pursued  from  the  day  I  met  him  in  New 
York. 

The  reception  closed  with  the  benediction, 
and  the  dignitaries  and  guests  proceeded  to 
a  Chinese  restaurant  which  was  genuinely 
Oriental ;  not  one  of  those  nondescript  Chop 
Suey  places  which  serve  such  varied  and 
often  objectionable  purposes.  The  entire  es 
tablishment  was  reserved  for  us.  It  was  gayly 
decorated  with  the  banners  of  the  Youngest 
Republic,  an  orchestra  played  vigorously 
and  so  unmelodiously  that  the  Herr  Director 
was  reminded  of  the  ultra  modern  German 
compositions. 

The  menu  was  the  most  mysterious  thing 
of  the  evening,  ranging  from  tea  to  broiled 
seaweed,  and  eggs  which  looked  their  age 
and  were  not  ashamed  of  it.  There  was 
fowl  which  was  made  unrecognizable  to  both 


The  California  Confession  of  Faith   221 

the  eye  and  the  palate,  something  which 
tasted  like  glue  flavored  with  onion,  and 
something  else  which  to  my  perverted  Occi 
dental  palate  seemed  like  stewed  Turkish 
towels.  There  were  sweetmeats  before  and 
after  and  between  courses.  Beside  the  mys 
tery,  the  variety  and  novelty  of  the  banquet, 
it  had  one  other  virtue ;  it  was  not  followed  by 
after  dinner  speeches,  that  common  American 
practice  which  is  an  assault  upon  one's  diges 
tion,  and,  not  infrequently,  upon  good  taste. 

While  there  were  no  after  dinner  speeches, 
we  had  a  chance  to  discuss  the  problem  of 
the  Chinese  in  California,  and  their  brave 
attempts  to  become  Americanized  in  thought 
and  feeling,  in  spite  of  the  unyielding  race 
prejudice  they  have  had  to  meet;  thus  re 
newing  our  faith  in  our  common  origin  and 
destiny,  regardless  of  our  apparent  differ 
ences.  Never  before  had  I  realized  how 
gentle  these  Chinese  are  nor  how  altogether 
likeable,  and  it  was  no  surprise  to  find  that 
some  of  the  Californians  have  made  the  same 
discovery,  and  are  treating  them  accordingly. 

We  visited  the  Immigrant  Station  at  San 


222    Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

Francisco  and  I  wished  we  had  not ;  for  our 
treatment  of  the  incoming  Orientals  lacks  all 
those  elements  of  which  I  had  boasted.  We 
are  neither  humane,  nor  fair,  neither  wise,  nor 
decent.  We  found  young  Chinese  women 
who  had  been  detained  for  more  than  a  year, 
and  were  left  without  occupation  or  suitable 
companionship  or  even  a  hope  of  early  re 
lease.  There  were  Chinese  boys  who  were 
herded  with  hardened,  vicious-looking  men, 
and  the  station,  although  ideally  situated, 
was  little  better  than  a  prison.  What  was 
done  or  was  allowed  to  be  done  to  make  the 
lot  of  these  people  more  bearable  was  ac 
complished  by  outsiders.  Conditions  may 
have  changed  since  that  time,  and  if  they 
have,  it  is  a  cause  for  profound  gratitude. 

We  also  had  an  unusual  opportunity  to 
come  in  touch  with  the  Japanese  all  along 
the  coast.  In  one  city  we  met  a  young 
Japanese,  a  graduate  of  my  own  college.  He 
is  now  serving  his  countrymen  there  as  a 
Buddhist  priest.  He  has  brought  to  his 
sacred  calling  much  of  the  practical  religion 
which  he  absorbed  through  his  contact  with 


The  California  Confession  of  Faith  223 

the  college  Y.  M.  C.  A.,  and  it  is  his  ambition 
to  make  Buddhism  efficient  and  serviceable. 
He  has  put  into  the  work  all  his  patrimony 
and  is  eager  to  build  up  an  institution  pat 
terned  after  the  Young  Men's  Christian 
Association. 

We  had  many  a  confidential  talk,  and  if 
the  soul  of  the  Oriental  is  not  altogether 
inscrutable  I  have  had  a  glimpse  of  it ; 
although  I  cannot  say  that  I  have  fathomed 
his  soul  any  more  than  he  has  mine.  He 
seemed  to  me  to  typify  his  race  in  a  remark 
able  degree.  His  is  a  strong,  unyielding, 
definite  kind  of  ethnos,  and  while  we  liked 
each  other  and  tried  to  understand  one 
another,  there  seemed  to  be  a  place  just  be 
fore  we  reached  our  Holy  of  Holies  where 
we  stood  before  a  barred  gate. 

When  he  told  me  that  the  American  soul 
is  absolutely  unemotional  in  comparison  with 
the  Japanese,  I  knew  he  did  not  understand 
us ;  even  as  I  did  not  understand  the  Japa 
nese  when  I  told  him  that  his  people  are  cold 
and  unemotional  in  comparison  with  us. 

He  took  us  to  his  temple  in  the  basement 


224    Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

of  a  shabby  looking  American  tenement 
He  showed  us  his  Sunday-school  room, 
picture  cards  with  Golden  Texts,  club  and 
class  rooms,  and  many  devices  borrowed 
from  us,  applied  and  perhaps  improved  upon 
by  his  Japanese  genius.  The  day  we  left 
the  city  he  brought  us  an  invitation  to 
luncheon  at  the  home  of  the  most  prominent 
Japanese  merchant  in  the  place.  Our  hostess 
was  a  delightful  woman  educated  in  a  Meth 
odist  school  in  her  native  country,  and  of 
course  spoke  English.  Her  husband,  a  con 
servative  Buddhist,  although  he  had  been  in 
this  country  for  twenty  years,  was  still  Japa 
nese  to  the  core  and  spoke  little  or  no 
English.  There  were  several  notables 
present,  whose  English  was  more  or  less 
Japanned.  They  were  keen,  well  educated, 
and  had  absorbed  enough  of  American 
culture  to  be  baseball  "  fans." 

During  luncheon,  which  in  our  honor  was 
served  a  la  Nippon,  we  discussed  the  anti- 
Japanese  legislation  which  at  that  time  was 
menacing  the.  peaceful  relationship  of  the 
two  countries. 


The  California  Confession  of  Faith  225 

All  the  Japanese  agreed  that  they  had  no 
right  to  demand  unrestricted  immigration  ; 
but  they  were  urgent  that  no  crass  distinction 
should  be  made  between  them  and  other 
races,  and  that  they  too  should  have  the 
right  to  obtain  citizenship  when  they  had 
proved  themselves  fitted  for  it. 

During  this  discussion  the  Frau  Directorin 
and  our  host  were  carrying  on  a  picturesque 
conversation  ;  that  is  she  did  the  talking  and 
he  smilingly  said  "Yes"  to  everything  she 
said.  She  felt  highly  flattered  that  he  under 
stood  her  English,  which  was  still  about 
seventy-five  per  cent.  German,  while  his  was 
ninety-nine  per  cent.  Japanese. 

That  night  as  we  were  leaving  the  city 
a  delegation  met  us  at  the  station  to  com 
plete  their  Oriental  hospitality  by  pre 
senting  us  with  beautiful  and  valuable  sou 
venirs. 

After  such  brief  and  friendly  relationships 
with  these  people  it  is  easy  to  come  to  very 
one-sided  conclusions  about  the  problem  they 
present  to  the  people  of  California.  The 
situation  is  serious,  but  not  so  serious  that,  in 


226    Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

order  to  try  to  meet  it,  we  must  cease  to  be 
gentlemanly  in  our  relation  to  them. 

It  is  the  peculiarity  of  all  people  who  face 
race  problems,  to  face  them  irrationally  and 
to  think  that  in  order  to  maintain  racial 
dignity  one  must  insult,  demean,  and  humble 
other  races;  and  the  people  of  the  United 
States  in  general,  and  those  of  the  Pacific 
Coast  in  particular,  have  not  yet  learned  a 
better  and  more  rational  way. 

Strong  race  prejudice  is  not  necessarily  a 
sign  of  race  superiority,  and  the  people  who 
constantly  proclaim  their  superiority  by 
humiliating  and  persecuting  others  have  a 
hard  time  proving  it. 

If  what  I  was  frequently  told  is  true,  that 
California  "  wants  no  immigrants  unless  they 
are  something  between  a  mule  and  a  man," 
then  I  can  understand  their  animosity 
towards  the  Japanese ;  for  they  are  alto 
gether  human  and  want  to  be  so  treated. 

Beside  the  many  racial  varieties  with 
which  we  came  in  contact  on  the  Pacific 
Coast,  we  found  there  all  the  types  produced 
in  the  United  States,  and  while  neither  the 


The  California  Confession  of  Faith    227 

Herr  Director  nor  myself  was  able  to  dif 
ferentiate  them  by  external  variation,  we 
discovered  them  by  different  and  contending 
ideals.  From  that  standpoint  they  were 
even  more  interesting  than  the  Orientals. 
Every  shade  of  political  and  religious  opin 
ion,  every  kind  of  economic  doctrine,  every 
variety  of  social  standards  we  found,  besides 
currents  and  cross  currents  not  easily  dis 
cerned  or  classified.  In  spite  of  the  differ 
ence  in  race,  class,  religion  and  politics,  we 
found  three  well  denned  ideas  expressed, 
upon  which  there  is  such  an  agreement  that 
they  might  be  called  the  California  Confes 
sion  of  Faith. 

First  and  foremost  is  the  belief  in  the 
climate  and  the  resources  of  the  state. 
There  is  no  religious  doctrine  in  existence 
unless  it  be  the  monotheism  of  the  Jews, 
which  is  so  dogmatically  held  as  this  faith, 
that  California  is  unsurpassed  in  climate, 
productiveness,  in  all  those  opportunities  for 
a  leisurely  existence  (provided  you  have 
worked  hard  elsewhere  to  get  the  necessary 
money)  as  are  offered  by  its  mountains  and 


228    Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

sea,  its  luxuriant  homes  and  all  other  factors 
which  contribute  to  the  health  and  happiness 
of  mankind.  The  only  possible  rival  to 
California  is  Heaven  itself,  and  just  because 
in  these  unbelieving  and  unregenerate  days 
so  many  people  are  not  sure  that  there  is 
such  a  place,  or  if  there  is,  are  in  doubt  that 
they  will  have  a  mansion  reserved  for  them, 
they  are  leaving  the  farms  and  towns  of  the 
more  mundane  Middle  West  and  prosperous 
East  to  get  a  taste  of  Heaven  in  California 
before  they  go  to  that  "  bourne  from  which 
no  "  wanderer  has  returned. 

The  people  of  California  forgive  any 
heresy  or  unbelief  except  a  doubt,  however 
faint,  about  its  climate  and  resources.  From 
the  shadow  of  Mount  Shasta  to  the  deepest 
depth  of  the  Imperial  Valley,  whether  we 
were  so  cold  in  summer  as  to  need  furs,  or 
were  hot  enough  to  melt,  or  were  choking 
from  dust  when  we  travelled  through  miles 
of  unredeemed  desert,  we  found  this  faith  in 
the  climate  and  resources  of  California  un 
shaken. 

The  Herr  Director  asked  why  there  were 


The  California  Confession  of  Faith  229 

so  many  cemeteries  in  the  midst  of  the  most 
crowded  streets,  and  only  a  nearer  look  con 
vinced  him  that  they  were  "  for  sale  "  signs 
of  rival  real  estate  agents,  who  flourish 
equally  with  the  sage-brush  and  cactus. 

The  second  idea  upon  which  there  is  a 
common  agreement  is,  that  while  California 
in  particular  is  perfect  as  to  climate  and  re 
sources,  the  world  in  general  is  a  dire  place, 
and  its  wrongs  need  to  be  righted. 

In  spite  of  the  fact  that  the  climate  invites 
to  leisure,  it  has  not  as  yet  tamed  the  fight 
ing  spirit  of  this  fine,  manly  race,  which  is 
never  so  happy  as  when  it  has  something 
to  do  and  dare.  This  state  has  admitted 
women  to  the  duties  of  citizenship,  that  all 
may  have  an  equal  share  in  the  fight.  The 
issues  at  stake  are  worth  battling  for,  and 
nowhere  else  is  the  struggle  more  intense 
and  dramatic.  Organized  labor  and  capital 
have  crippled  each  other  in  the  desperate 
conflict,  fierce  always,  and  often  brutal. 
Protestantism,  unorganized  and  frequently 
inefficient,  faces  the  Roman  Catholic  hier 
archy,  defending,  as  it  believes,  the  public 


230    Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

schools  and  democratic  government  itself: 
awakening,  purified  democracy  is  in  deadly 
conflict  with  the  demagogue  entrenched  by 
special  privilege  while  the  prohibitionists  are 
engaged  in  most  desperate  conflict  with  the 
vinous  industry  of  the  state. 

The  third  doctrine  of  the  California  Con 
fession  of  Faith  is,  that  here  on  the  Pacific 
Coast  the  white  race  has  been  providentially 
placed  to  defend  this  country  against  the 
encroachment  of  the  "  Yellow  Peril."  It  was 
illuminating  though  painful  to  find  that  race 
prejudice  is  as  intense  here  as  in  the  South, 
and  as  unreasoning,  and  that  one  is  as  help 
less  against  it  as  against  a  flood  or  fire.  All 
one  seems  to  be  able  to  do  is  to  accept  it 
as  a  fact,  and  treat  it  like  a  contagious 
disease. 

If  there  is  any  danger  to  the  white  race  at 
the  Pacific  Coast,  it  is  not  the  presence  of  the 
Japanese  or  Chinese  in  limited  numbers  ;  it 
is  the  attitude  of  mind  which  has  been  created 
among  Americans  there,  and  that  may  bring 
its  own  vengeance. 

It  was  a  great  joy  to  introduce  my  guests 


The  California  Confession  of  Faith  231 

to  California,  its  orange  groves  and  vine 
yards,  its  marvellous  cities  and  palatial 
homes.  It  is  a  state  to  glory  in  ;  but  strange 
to  say  I  was  somewhat  depressed  when  I  left 
it.  The  Herr  Director  said  he  missed  my 
"  brag  and  bluster." 

Everything  was  beautiful  and  bountiful, 
even  as  the  real  estate  agents  have  adver 
tised  ;  yet  there  were  some  things  I  found  and 
some  things  I  missed  which  took  the  "  brag 
and  bluster"  out  of  me. 

Its  pioneer  spirit  is  weakened  by  the  acces 
sion  of  a  large,  leisure  class,  and  how  or 
where  the  next  generation  will  find  a  grap 
pling  place  for  vigor  of  body,  mind  and 
spirit,  is  still  a  great  question.  To  eat  one's 
bread  by  the  sweat  of  some  ancestor's  brow, 
to  be  challenged  daily  by  the  luxury  of  a 
limousine  rather  than  by  the  hardships  of  the 
prairie  schooner,  to  have  as  the  end  and  aim 
of  one's  day  the  winning  of  a  Polo  match,  or 
the  making  of  a  golf  score,  must  ultimately 
bring  about  a  decadence  of  spirit,  even 
though  one  retains  for  a  while  litheness  of 
body  and  activity  of  mind. 


232    Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

The  boasted  democracy  of  California  is 
threatened,  not  only  by  the  presence  of  a  large 
leisure  class  and  the  necessary  serving  if  not 
servant  class,  but  also  by  a  lack  of  faith  in 
humanity,  without  which  no  democracy  is 
safe  and  enduring.  To  California  has  been 
transferred  all  that  unfaith  gendered  by  the 
advent  of  the  negro,  and  if  there  were 
ever  a  chance  to  revive  the  institution  of 
slavery,  that  state  might  offer  some  hope  for 
its  revival. 

The  Californians  who  fear  for  the  white 
race  because  of  the  presence  of  the  Oriental, 
whom  that  fear  has  made  vain,  boastful,  un 
generous  and  reckless  of  the  feelings  of 
others,  need  to  know  that  a  greater  danger 
threatens  the  race — the  decay  of  the  demo 
cratic  spirit,  which  languishes  and  perishes 
unless  it  permits  to  all  men  free  access  to  the 
best  it  holds,  regardless  of  "  race,  color,  or 
previous  condition  of  servitude." 

Because  I  had  lost  my  "  brag  and  bluster  " 
and  wished  to  recover  them,  I  took  my 
guests,  who  were  now  homeward  bound,  to 
the  one  place  which  might  fitly  crown  their 


The  California  Confession  of  Faith  233 

experiences — the  Grand  Canyon,  where  one 
is  apt  to  forget  humanity  and  its  fretting 
problems. 

I  must  confess  that  by  this  time  I  was 
quite  worn  out ;  for  introducing  your  coun 
try  to  a  stranger  is  wearing  business,  es 
pecially  when  you  are  dealing  with  blase 
globe-trotters,  who  have  done  all  the  big 
things,  from  the  Alps  to  the  Dead  Sea,  and 
have  had  to  crowd  into  a  brief  month  the 
best  which  lies  between  New  York  and  Cali 
fornia.  To  do  this  with  a  lover's  adulation, 
endeavoring  more  or  less  skillfully  to  hide 
defects  and  make  the  bright  spots  brighter 
still,  may  well  tax  one's  nerves. 

I  acted  as  a  sort  of  shock  absorber,  for  I 
determined  that  the  journey  should  be  a  jolt- 
less  one  for  my  guests ;  but  in  that  I  partially 
failed  ;  for  not  only  did  I  receive  the  shocks 
myself,  I  could  not  keep  them  from  receiving 
some. 

One  of  the  worst  of  these  jolts  I  suffered 
at  the  Grand  Canyon  of  the  Colorado.  I 
was  very  sure  of  the  Canyon  itself ;  I  knew  it 
would  put  a  thrill  into  the  Herr  Director,  and 


234    Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

force  an  expression  of  it  out  of  him.  I  never 
worried  about  the  Frau  Directorin.  We 
reached  the  Canyon  in  that  happy  mood 
gendered  by  a  combination  of  Harvey  meals 
and  Pullman  berths,  and  the  sight  of  the 
friendly  inn  at  the  brink  of  the  big  surprise, 
and  the  cheer  of  the  big  log  fire  in  the  raftered 
room  drew  an  involuntary  exclamation  of 
pleasure  from  the  Herr  Director.  He  regis 
tered,  then  asked  the  clerk  for  a  room  front 
ing  the  Canyon. 

"  Yes  siree  ! "  said  the  obliging  young  man 
as  he  attached  a  number  to  the  Herr  Direct 
or's  long  and  illegible  signature ;  "  I'll  give 
you  a  room  so  near  that  you  can  spit  right 
into  it." 

Naturally  I  received  the  first  shock ;  a 
minute  later  it  communicated  itself  to  the 
Herr  Director.  It  did  not  reach  the  Frau  Di 
rectorin,  for  her  English  fortunately  was  still 
limited  ;  she  kept  on  looking  at  the  bright 
Navajo  rugs,  while  the  clerk  smiled  at  his 
own  smartness.  The  Herr  Director  com 
manded  to  have  his  bags  taken  to  his  room, 
and  turning  from  the  desk  said :  "  Young 


The  California  Confession  of  Faith   235 

man,  I  am  a  German,  and  I  want  you  to  un 
derstand  that  we  do  not  spit  in  God's  face." 

The  next  morning  the  great  Canyon  was 
full  of  mist,  and  only  faint  outlines  of  its  titanic 
architecture  were  visible.  As  we  stood  at  the 
edge  of  the  wondrous  chasm,  watching  the 
last  cloud  being  driven  from  the  depths  as 
the  moisture  was  absorbed  by  the  dry,  desert 
air,  the  Frau  Directorin  was  shaken  by  emo 
tion  as  she  gasped  at  intervals :  "  Um 
Gottes  Himmels  Willen!"  The  Herr  Di 
rector,  his  feelings  better  controlled,  said 
nothing;  but  after  a  long  silence,  muttered 
under  his  breath  :  "  I  should  like  to  throw 
that  clerk  down  this  abyss  as  a  penalty  for 
his  desecrating  thought." 

Every  few  minutes  I  heard  him  saying,  as 
he  shook  his  head  :  "  Just  think  of  it !  Just 
think  of  it ! " 

I  did  not  disturb  him  or  ask  him  what  he 
thought  of  it  for  I  knew  he  could  not  tell, 
nor  can  any  one.  I  think  he  felt  as  I  felt, 
that  all  the  cities  he  had  seen  were  as  noth 
ing  compared  with  this  wonder  of  nature ; 
that  all  the  pillared  post-offices  and  libraries 


236    Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

which  our  cunning  hands  have  scattered  over 
this  broad  land  are  trifling  toys  compared 
with  this  templed  miracle ;  that  all  our  dreams 
of  what  we  might  paint  or  fashion  or  carve, 
or  build,  are  child's  play  compared  with  this, 
and  that  we  ourselves  are  mere  nothings  in 
the  presence  of  what  God  hath  wrought  here 
in  stone  and  clay,  in  color  and  form. 

Never  before  had  I  so  wished  that  I  could 
rearrange  the  geography  of  the  United 
States  as  when  we  turned  eastward  from  the 
Grand  Canyon.  If  I  had  the  power  of  Him 
who  shaped  this  earth  I  would  have  put  it 
within  a  mile  of  the  Atlantic  Ocean  and 
within  a  stone's  throw  of  the  Hoboken  dock, 
and  having  shown  my  guests  the  Canyon,  I 
would  have  put  them  on  board  their  home- 
bound  steamer,  and  as  they  sailed  away  I 
would  have  cried  out  with  ancient  Simeon : 
"  Now  lettest  Thou  Thy  servant  depart  in 
peace  1 " 


XIII 

The  Grinnell  Spirit 

BETWEEN  the  Grand  Canyon  and  the 
ship  there  might  be  "  many  a  slip," 
especially  as  I  was  to  conclude  my 
guardianship  of   the   travellers  in   my  own 
town,  prosaically  placed  in  the  great  Missis 
sippi  Valley,  which  consists  of  two  plains — 
one  at  the  top  and  the  other  at  the  bottom, 
filled  with  corn  and  hogs,  and  most  prosper 
ous  and  contented  people. 

The  place  towards  which  we  journeyed 
holds  two  things  which  are  the  biggest,  most 
beautiful,  and  best  things  in  the  world — my 
home  and  my  work,  both  of  which  my  guests 
wished  to  see.  I  was  anxious  that  they 
should  ;  for  there,  if  anywhere,  they  could 
come  close  to  that  I  gloried  in  most,  the 
American  Spirit. 

After  the  barren  plains,  the  monotonous 
237 


238    Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

miles  of  sage-brush,  and  the  long,  straight 
stretches  of  railroad  tracks,  it  was  good  to 
look  upon  green  meadows  and  commodious 
farmhouses  sheltered  by  groves  of  maple 
and  elm,  and  surrounded  by  great  fields  of 
young  corn  just  peeping  above  the  black, 
rich  clods. 

During  the  last  few  hours  of  the  trip  the 
Herr  Director  thought  every  station  at  which 
the  train  stopped  was  our  destination,  and 
began  gathering  his  various  belongings. 
When  finally  we  reached  it  he  jumped  out 
almost  before  the  train  stopped,  so  eager  was 
he  to  see  the  place  where  he  was  to  spend  at 
least  a  fortnight,  and  really  see  the  American 
home  from  the  inside. 

Again  fortune  favored  me.  It  was  early 
June.  The  air  was  soft  from  recent  rains, 
the  grassy  lawns  were  wonderfully  green ; 
peonies  were  opening  their  buds,  adding 
touches  of  color,  snowballs  hung  thick  upon 
the  bushes,  and  blooming  roses  filled  the  air 
with  sweet  odors. 

It  seemed  as  if  our  neighbors  had  con 
spired  to  make  the  town  ready  for  my  dis- 


The  Grinnell  Spirit  239 

tinguished  visitors,  and  I  could  see  that  they 
enjoyed  the  peace  of  it,  the  friendliness  of 
the  park-like  streets,  the  sight  of  well-kept 
homes  set  in  gardens,  and  the  cordial  greet 
ings  of  the  people  we  met. 

Their  appreciation  of  all  they  saw  before 
reaching  the  house,  and  their  evident  delight 
in  the  rooms  prepared  for  them,  not  to  men 
tion  their  astonishment  at  finding  their  trunks 
awaiting  them  there,  afforded  me  not  only 
pleasure,  but  a  great  sense  of  relief ;  I  felt 
that  the  race  was  won.  I  had  faith  to  believe 
that  they  would  be  happy  in  our  town  of  six 
thousand  inhabitants,  which  is  not  unlike 
other  places  of  the  same  size.  It  has  its 
public  park,  two  or  three  shopping  streets, 
churches,  schoolhouses,  a  few  factories  large 
and  small,  clubs,  lodges,  and  all  the  things 
of  which  like  towns  may  legitimately  boast ; 
yet  it  has  a  background  peculiarly  its  own. 

It  was  founded  by  an  intrepid  pioneer  who 
brought  a  colony  of  New  Englanders  from 
the  hills  of  Massachusetts  to  this  treeless 
prairie,  and  with  the  imperious  will  of  his 
race  said  :  "  Let  there  be  a  town ! "  And 


240    Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

lumber  was  carted  over  miles  of  deep  mud, 
cabins  were  built  and  there  was  a  town. 

And  again  he  said  :  "  Let  there  be  a  rail 
road!"  And  he  diverted  the  course  of  a 
great  railroad  system  miles  out  of  its  way, 
and  there  was  a  railroad. 

And  he  said :  "  There  must  be  no  saloon  in 
this  place !  "  So  more  than  half  a  century 
before  strong  drink  was  acknowledged  to  be 
a  social  and  physical  foe,  he  had  seen  its 
true  nature  and  put  prohibition  into  every 
deed  of  real  estate,  thus  making  it  impossible 
for  liquor  to  gain  a  foothold. 

Years  passed  and  he  said :  "  Let  there  be 
a  college ! "  and  he  brought  one  across  the 
state,  and  there  was  a  college  ;  a  young, 
infant  thing  just  started  by  Christian  mis 
sionaries  who  had  come  from  the  East,  each 
of  them  to  plant  a  church,  all  of  them  to 
plant  a  college. 

This  infant  educational  institution  was  put 
into  its  rude  cradle  in  the  midst  of  an  un 
shaded  campus,  and  when  it  had  grown  to 
generous  size,  with  buildings  to  house  it  and 
trees  to  shade  it,  a  cyclone  swept  the  campus 


The  Grinnell  Spirit  241 

bare,  and  instead  of  a  joyous  Commence 
ment,  which  was  but  a  few  days  distant, 
there  were  funerals  and  desolation,  wreck 
and  ruin. 

On  a  pile  of  debris  sat  the  same  pioneer 
with  a  determined  smile  playing  upon  his 
face,  and  at  once,  while  the  tears  upon  the 
mourners'  cheeks  were  still  wet,  he  and 
others  like  him  began  rebuilding  the  town 
and  the  college. 

Those  men  now  "rest  from  their  labor" 
in  that  bit  of  rolling  prairie  saved  from  the 
plowmen  and  the  harvester,  and  consecrated 
to  hold  our  dead  until  the  great  day. 

The  morning  after  our  arrival  in  Grinnell, 
the  Herr  Director  and  the  Frau  Directorin, 
who,  during  our  travels,  had  little  opportuntiy 
to  indulge  their  fondness  for  exercise,  walked 
out  to  the  cemetery.  It  is  a  beautiful,  well- 
kept  spot,  but  half  spoiled  by  crowding  head 
stones.  From  it  can  be  seen  church  steeples 
peeping  through  the  elm  trees  which  shelter 
the  town ;  the  ugly  stand-pipe  and  the  tall 
chimney  of  our  one  big  factory.  At  our  feet 
lay  the  little  artificial  lake  where  much  fishing 


242    Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

is  done,  and  sometimes  fish  are  caught.  As 
far  as  we  could  see  were  prosperous  farms 
with  their  comfortable  homes,  generous  barns, 
turreted  silos,  and  wide  meadows  where 
calves  and  colts  grazed. 

One  of  our  virtues,  the  Herr  Director 
thought,  was  that  we  do  not  boast  about  our 
dead.  Whatever  boasting  we  do,  and  we  do 
not  boast  too  much,  it  ceases  when  the  earth 
covers  us.  He  saw  no  fulsome  eulogies 
carved  upon  the  headstones  ;  often  nothing 
but  a  name  and  the  two  dates  of  birth  and 
death. 

In  the  face  of  that  great  and  last  achieve 
ment  we  are  very  humble  and  honest ; 
although  in  our  little  cemetery  lie  buried 
men  and  women  of  whom  I  should  like  to 
boast.  They  were  the  great,  real  Americans 
who  worked  diligently,  honestly  and  humbly, 
who  left  no  huge  fortunes  to  curse  the  next 
generation ;  but  built  their  modest  homes, 
and  before  the  roof  tree  was  lifted,  had  built 
a  church  and  a  schoolhouse.  They  put 
their  tithes  into  the  Lord's  treasury  before 
they  put  money  into  a  bank,  and  while  they 


The  Grinnell  Spirit  243 

were  still  wading  through  mud,  anchored  the 
college  upon  a  rock,  making  its  growth  and 
permanence  their  great  extravagance. 

They  believed  in  an  austere  Christ,  but  be 
lieved  in  Him  implicitly,  followed  Him  con 
sistently  and  left  a  legacy  of  simplicity,  tem 
perance  and  frugality. 

Yes,  I  boasted  of  our  dead  to  my  guests. 
I  boasted  of  that  grim,  fighting  man  whose 
name  the  town  bears,  who  was  the  personifi 
cation  of  the  determined,  American  pioneer, 
the  conqueror  of  mere  circumstances. 

I  boasted  of  that  firm,  unyielding,  con 
troversial  Calvinist,  George  F.  Magoun,  who 
ruled  the  college  in  his  own  stern  way.  He 
was  the  last,  but  not  the  least  of  his  kind, 
who  built  deep  and  strong  and  straight  upon 
the  foundations  of  morality  and  religion  ;  so 
that  others  could  build  loftily  and  boldly. 

I  led  them  to  the  grave  where  rests  the 
body  of  his  successor,  the  two  differing  from 
one  another  in  opinions  and  method  at  every 
point ;  for  the  younger  man  was  the  forerun 
ner  of  a  new  dispensation,  its  prophet,  dis 
ciple  and  martyr.  Yet  both  men  were  made 


244    Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

of  the  same  stern,  unyielding  stuff,  and  both 
rested  their  lives  and  the  hope  of  life's  better 
things  to  come,  upon  the  same  foundation. 

When  the  names  of  those  Americans  who 
prophesied  the  day  of  the  Kingdom,  who 
worked  for  it  and  suffered  for  it,  shall  be 
placed  upon  the  honor  roll,  the  name  of 
George  A.  Gates,  now  carved  upon  a  modest 
monument,  will  be  found  imperishably  writ 
ten  there. 

Near  by,  under  the  shade  of  slender  white 
birches,  we  saw  the  simple  shaft  which  marks 
the  resting  place  of  one  of  the  Iowa  Band, 
James  J.  Hill,  who  holds  his  place  in  the 
annals  of  the  college,  not  only  because  he 
gave  the  first  dollar  to  help  found  it,  but  be 
cause  of  the  continued  loyalty  of  his  sons. 

I  wished  my  guests  could  have  come  to  us 
before  we  buried  the  man  whose  life  spanned 
the  old  and  the  new — the  white-haired,  ever 
youthful,  eloquent  teacher,  Leonard  F.  Parker, 
who  smiled  benignly  upon  us  all  until  his 
eyes  closed  forever,  and  with  their  closing,  a 
benediction  was  gone.  He  was  the  type  of 
missionary  teacher  who  began  his  career  in  a 


The  Grinnell  Spirit  245 

log  cabin,  who,  whether  he  taught  in  a  coun 
try  school  or  in  a  great  State  University, 
taught  with  a  passion  for  men.  The  impress 
of  his  personality  remained  with  his  pupils 
long  after  they  had  forgotten  his  erudite 
lore. 

As  great  as  these  great  Americans  were  their 
wives,  and  no  one  can  ever  think  of  them 
as  less  than  the  equals  of  their  husbands. 

If  the  American  woman  occupies  a  unique 
place  in  the  world,  it  is  not  only  because  the 
American  man  has  been  more  generous  than 
his  European  brother,  but  because  she  has 
proved  her  equality.  She  has  attained  the 
measure  of  rights  and  privileges  still  denied 
to  most  of  her  sisters  elsewhere  because  she 
earned  and  deserved  them. 

We,  the  living,  sons  and  daughters  of  these 
great  teachers  by  birth  and  by  adoption,  can 
not  hold  in  too  high  esteem  the  legacy  they 
left  us.  We  do  not  know  with  as  firm  an  as 
surance  as  we  ought  to  know,  how  much  we 
owe  to  them,  and  that,  if  we  waste  our  in 
heritance,  we  waste  spiritual  forces  which  we 
cannot  generate. 


246    Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

They  were  all,  in  the  true  sense,  provincial, 
narrow  men.  They  thought  of  America  and 
of  the  world  and  of  the  world  to  come,  in  the 
terms  of  their  creed,  their  town  and  their  col 
lege  ;  while  we  who  have  circled  the  globe 
and  think  in  world  terms  first,  and  boast 
of  wider  vision  and  larger  faith,  may  be  in 
danger  of  overlooking  the  fact  that  in  our 
small  place  and  places  like  it  may  be  decided 
the  fate  of  America,  and  through  America,  the 
fate  of  the  world. 

The  Herr  Director  was  astonished  and  the 
Frau  Directorin  pained  to  find  that  we  lived 
in  a  servantless  house  and  in  practically  a 
servantless  town ;  that  we  were  our  own 
cooks  and  housemaids,  butlers  and  gardeners. 
When  the  Herr  Director  saw  me  mowing  my 
lawn  in  broad  daylight  he  wondered  that  I 
did  not  lose  caste  among  my  fellows. 

The  Frau  Directorin  was  remarkably 
adaptable.  She  delighted  in  wielding  the 
dustless  mop  (to  reduce  "the  meat"),  she 
dusted  the  bric-£-brac,  and  out  of  the  kind 
ness  of  her  heart  and  in  spite  of  our  pro 
tests,  became  "  first  aid  "  to  my  wife. 


The  Grinnell  Spirit  247 

One  morning,  just  as  I  was  waking,  I  heard 
the  rattle  of  a  lawn-mower  under  my  win 
dow  ;  not  the  quick,  sharp,  sustained  noise 
which  usually  arouses  the  neighborhood,  but 
a  slow,  measured  sound,  by  fits  and  starts. 
In  between  I  could  hear  puffing  and  pant 
ing,  like  that  of  a  small  steam  engine. 
When  I  looked  out  of  the  window  I  saw 
something  which  my  eyes  could  not  believe. 
The  Herr  Director  had  begun  mowing  the 
lawn,  and  I  let  him  finish  it.  It  pretty  nearly 
finished  him ;  but  after  his  bath  and  a  gener 
ous  American  breakfast,  he  glowed  from 
health  and  happiness. 

"I  never  knew,"  he  said,  "the  elevating 
power  of  physical  labor.  I  think  I  will  take 
a  lawn-mower  home  with  me." 

The  Frau  Directorin  put  a  damper  upon 
his  enthusiasm  by  reminding  him  that  he 
would  have  to  take  a  lawn  home  with  him 
too,  and  more  than  that,  the  town  itself ;  for 
in  their  environment  he  would  not  dare  use 
the  lawn-mower  even  if  he  had  one. 

I  am  quite  sure  now  that  the  Herr  Director 
would  have  liked  to  take  my  little  town  home 


248    Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

with  him,  with  the  lawn-mower  and  the  lawn. 
If  he  could  have  done  so,  he  might  have 
changed  the  course  of  empires. 

I  urged  him,  if  he  really  wished  to  annex 
us,  to  do  it  soon ;  for  there  is  no  little  danger 
that  we,  too,  shall  lose  faith  in  the  redemptive 
power  of  labor,  the  sufficiency  of  little  things, 
the  grandeur  of  plain  living  and  high  think 
ing,  the  exaltation  of  the  humble,  the  inher 
itance  for  the  meek  and  the  reward  of  the 
righteous.  When  we  lose  those,  we  have 
lost  that  which,  in  our  proud,  provincial  way, 
we  call  "The  Grinnell  Spirit" — an  integral 
part  of  the  American — the  World-spirit. 


XIV 

The  Commencement  and  The  End 

iHERE  are  some  aspects  of  our 
American  life  which  I  tried  to  hide 
from  my  guests.  I  kept  as  many 
of  our  national  family  skeletons  as  possible 
in  their  closets,  and  made  sure  that  the  doors 
were  securely  locked. 

I  was  glad  that  the  Herr  Director  and  the 
Frau  Directorin  were  to  leave  this  country 
before  our  insane  Fourth  of  July,  which  we 
are  endeavoring  to  make  sane.  I  did  not 
care  to  have  them  here  on  Thanksgiving 
Day  from  which,  through  the  superabundance 
of  turkey  and  cranberry  sauce,  the  element 
of  Thanksgiving  has  been  almost  eliminated. 
I  was  profoundly  grateful  that  during  their 
visit  there  was  no  election  day  with  its  sordid 
partisanship,  its  ballot  box,  not  yet  sacred 
enough  to  make  beautiful  or  place  nobly  in 
some  civic  temple  ;  but  we  did  urge  them  to 

remain  over  Commencement  day,  that  most 
249 


250    Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

happy,  sweetly  solemn  occasion,  unspoiled 
as  yet  by  rich  display.  It  is  the  great  fes 
tival  of  our  democracy,  shared  by  town  and 
gown,  when  we  open  the  gates  to  rich  and 
poor,  to  common  opportunity  and  duty. 

We  made  no  mistake  in  thus  planning. 
The  town  wore  its  holiday  air.  From  farm 
and  village,  from  many  states,  on  every  train, 
parents  were  arriving,  walking  proudly  beside 
their  sons  and  daughters,  in  academic  garb. 

"  Old  Grads  "  were  being  welcomed  back 
by  Alma  Mater,  grateful  to  her  for  having 
helped  make  life  rich,  and  sweet,  and  worth 
living.  They  hoped  to  place  under  her  care 
their  children  and  their  children's  children, 
whom  they  had  brought  there  to  give  them 
a  foretaste  of  joys  to  come. 

It  was  a  wonderful  experience  for  the  Herr 
Director  and  the  Frau  Directorin  to  meet 
them.  They  were  f£ted  and  feasted  ;  they 
wore  class  and  college  colors,  and  entered 
into  the  spirit  of  it  all  as  if  they,  too,  had  been 
the  children  of  Grinnell  College. 

Among  the  graduates  they  met  editors, 
lawyers  and  doctors  who  had  come  back 


The  Commencement  and  The  End   251 

from  the  great  cities  ;  professors  who  had 
won  academic  renown,  and  are  serving  the 
great  universities  ;  teachers  who  had  carried 
into  the  public  schools  the  spirit  of  their  col 
lege  ;  preachers  who  have  gained  promi 
nence,  and  those  who  minister  in  humble 
places,  faithful  in  their  obscurity  and  proud 
of  their  chance  to  serve.  There  were  mis 
sionaries  who  came  back  from  the  ends  of 
the  earth  where  they  had  started  centers  of 
education,  places  of  healing  and  temples  of 
hope. 

They  listened  to  stirring  messages  from 
pulpit  and  platform,  to  the  young  dreams 
of  minor  poets  who  sang  the  lay  of  their 
class;  to  historians  who  reviewed  the  four 
college  years  as  a  great  epoch  closed  ;  to 
prophets  who  predicted  failure  and  success, 
and  a  golden  day  of  jubilee  to  the  whole 
weary  world,  when  this  particular  class  got 
back  of  it. 

On  Commencement  day  they  watched  the 
dignified  President  conferring  the  degrees  of 
Bachelor,  Master  and  Doctor. 

At  noon  they  attended  the  college  ban- 


252    Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

quet  and  suffered  through  the  after  dinner 
speeches. 

That  night  on  the  crowded  campus  they 
enjoyed  the  Glee  Club's  joyful  songs,  and 
then,  worn  to  the  last  shred  of  their  highly 
emotional  natures,  walked  home  with  us 
while  the  last  strains  of  the  Alumni  Song 
faded  away  into  the  night. 

The  Herr  Director  talked  until  after  mid 
night,  telling  of  the  many  things  which 
pleased  him.  The  religious  dignity,  the 
fine  simplicity,  the  natural,  sweet,  pure  re 
lationship  between  men  and  women;  but 
above  all  else,  the  democratic  spirit  from 
which  these  other  things  emanate. 

He  had  an  apt  way  of  singing  snatches  of 
German  song  of  which  he  seemed  to  com 
mand  an  unlimited  supply ;  and  as  he 
mounted  the  stairs  to  his  room  he  sang : 
"  Achy  wenn  es  nur  immer  so  bliebe."  (Oh, 
if  it  would  only  remain  so  always.)  Then 
followed  the  sad  note  which  is  the  major 
one  of  the  German  lyric  :  "  Es  war  zu  schbne 
gewesen,  es  halt  nick  sollen  sein"  (It  was 
too  beautiful  and  therefore  could  not  be.) 


The  Commencement  and  The  End    253 

I  knew  it  might  not  remain  so  beautiful 
always  ;  but  if  life  is  worth  while  at  all,  it  is 
worth  while  struggling  to  keep  it  so. 

I  do  not  know  what  share  one  person  may 
have  in  influencing  the  current  upon  which 
a  nation  is  drifting ;  but  I  believe  in  the 
power  of  the  individual,  and  I  shall  "fight 
the  good  fight " — and  a  hard  one  it  is — and 
"  keep  the  faith  " — although  it  is  not  easy  to 
keep  it — faith  in  God  and  men  and  in  the 
American  Spirit. 

Four  weeks  after  the  Herr  Director  and 
the  Frau  Directorin  left  us  I  received  the 
following  letter.  I  have  had  some  difficulty 
in  translating  the  involved  and  rather 
lengthy  epistle  into  straightforward  Eng 
lish,  but  have  done  so  that  I  may  share  it 
with  my  readers. 

MY  DEAR  FRIEND  : 

We  arrived  home  in  safety  after  a 
rather  stormy  and  uneventful  voyage.  On 
board  the  ship  we  met  a  number  of  Lake 
Mohonk  acquaintances,  and  therefore  the 
atmosphere  which  you  tried  to  create  for 


254    Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

me  surrounded  me  even  in  mid  ocean,  and 
consequently  you  ought  to  be  happy  and 
contented. 

When  we  reached  Washington  half- 
cooked,  for  even  your  excellent  provisions 
for  our  comfort  were  unavailing  against  your 
terrific  summer  heat,  your  friend  and  his 
automobile  were  at  the  station;  just  such 
a  friend  and  such  an  automobile  as  met  us 
dozens  of  times  before. 

If  anything,  this  friend  was  a  little  more 
persistent  than  the  other  species,  for  we 
were  taken  up  and  down  and  in  and  out,  to 
everything  within  fifty  miles  of  Washington. 
We  shook  hands  with  half  your  congress 
men  ;  some  of  them  seem  to  be  professional 
hand-shakers,  and  my  hand  aches  at  the 
thought  of  it. 

State  Secretary  Bryan  received  me  most 
affably  and  talked  about  his  peace  treaties. 
He  didn't  give  me  much  chance  to  do  any 
talking  myself.  He  seems  so  genuinely 
American  ;  by  that  I  mean  simple  and  child 
like  in  many  things,  and  complex  and  diffi 
cult  to  understand  in  others. 


The  Commencement  and  The  End    255 

He  is  neither  a  humbug  as  some  of  your 
papers  say,  nor  a  prophet  as  he  thinks  him 
self.  His  faith  in  humanity  and  in  himself  is 
pathetically  colossal. 

It  is  amusing  to  find  that  you  Americans, 
and  you  are  the  most  American  of  them  all 
— you  Americans  who  have  invented  cash 
registers  and  time  clocks,  those  symbols  of 
unfaith  in  humanity,  are  so  full  of  faith  in 
your  relation  to  big,  national  and  inter 
national  problems. 

Your  optimism  may,  after  all,  be  due  to 
your  ignorance,  coupled  with  the  fact  that 
you  are  living  in  a  land  vast  and  isolated, 
which  has  not  quite  exhausted  its  resources 
and  opportunities.  The  most  materialistic 
people  on  earth  in  your  relationship  to  each 
other,  you  leap  into  remarkable  idealism  in 
the  sphere  of  politics  and  diplomacy.  If  it  is 
true  that  "  God  takes  care  of  children  and 
fools,"  then  God  is  taking  wonderfully  good 
care  of  you  Americans,  who  seem  to  me  to 
be  both. 

In  our  country  we  would  put  a  man  of 
Mr.  Bryan's  type  in  charge  of  an  orphan 


256    Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

asylum,  and  feel  that  the  children  would  be 
safe  with  him  at  least  till  their  twelfth  year ; 
and  yet  I  know  that  he  has  done  vigorous 
fighting,  and  I  shall  give  him  a  chapter  in 
my  book  about  America,  which  as  you  know 
I  intend  to  write  and  have  already  begun. 

It  was  quite  a  change  of  atmosphere  when 
I  went  from  the  Department  of  State  to  the 
White  House.  The  President's  secretary 
seems  to  me  a  man  of  large  calibre,  kind, 
yet  firm.  A  man  to  like  and  yet  to  fear ; 
just  the  kind  of  person  a  great  man  needs  as 
a  buffer  against  his  friends,  and  as  a  guard 
against  his  enemies.  The  atmosphere  of  the 
White  House  is  dignified,  yet  not  cold; 
democratic,  yet  reserved ;  you  feel  that  it  is 
a  place  of  power. 

Above  everything  else  you  have  done  for 
me  I  want  to  thank  you  for  making  it  pos 
sible  for  me  to  meet  President  Wilson.  He 
is  not  at  all  the  type  of  man  I  expected  to 
find.  There  is  nothing  pedantic  about  him 
and  I  do  not  know  a  man  in  any  of  our  uni 
versities  like  him.  He  is  not  as  easy  to 
analyze  as  Mr.  Bryan,  he  is  by  far  the 


The  Commencement  and  The  End    257 

greater,  more  complex  and  stronger  nature. 
He  has  the  firmness  which  rulers  should 
possess,  and  may  be  too  unyielding  when 
once  he  has  made  up  his  mind  to  anything. 
He  knows  more  than  Mr.  Bryan  but  is  not 
as  dogmatic,  not  nearly  as  friendly,  and  yet 
I  came  nearer  to  that  which  I  sought  in  him, 
and  I  think  I  understood  him  better.  He  let 
me  do  all  the  talking,  but  asked  all  man 
ner  of  questions;  yet  he  told  me  more 
that  way  than  Mr.  Bryan,  who  did  all  the 
talking. 

If  President  Wilson  is  a  politician,  he  is  a 
new  kind  which  I  have  never  met  before.  I 
think  he  has  made  many  mistakes,  which  of 
course  is  natural.  There  is  only  one  of  your 
presidents  who  never  made  mistakes,  and 
that  was  President  Roosevelt.  He  made 
blunders,  which  he  had  the  pugnacity  and 
the  sheer  physical  courage  to  turn  into 
political  capital,  and  then  blundered  again. 

President  Wilson  was  in  the  midst  of  the 
Mexican  muddle  when  I  saw  him,  yet  he 
seemed  to  me  very  well  poised,  and  bearing 
his  many  burdens,  not  like  a  martyr  or  a 


258    Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

saint,  but  as  a  really  strong  man  ought  to 
bear  them. 

Of  course  you  do  not  believe  that  I  took 
your  eulogies  of  America  "fur  baareMuenze" 
(at  their  face  value).  There  are  two  Americas 
and  you  are  living  in  but  one  of  them.  Your 
America  lies  in  the  high  altitudes  of  Lake 
Mohonk,  Hull  House,  and  Grinnell  College. 
The  other  America  which  you  tried  to  hide 
from  me  I  saw,  just  because  you  tried  to  hide 
it.  It  is  sorbid,  base,  selfish,  and  above  all 
strong ;  but  that  you  do  not  seem  to  know. 

You  have  modified  my  view  of  America, 
but  you  have  not  changed  it.  You  are  still  a 
big  experiment  as  a  nation,  and  I  am  not 
sure  that  it  will  be  a  successful  one.  You 
have  nothing  to  teach  us  in  government, 
business  or  education.  Just  one  thing  I  envy 
you — your  faith  in  your  unfinished  country 
and  in  yourself  as  a  force  in  its  making. 

As  you  know,  I  do  not  share  your  faith  ; 
especially  do  I  not  believe  that  one  individual 
or  many  individuals  can  change  the  course  of 
empires. 

You     think    yourself    citizen,    king    and 


The  Commencement  and  The  End    259 

priest;  but  you  are  merely  an  atom,  a 
conscious  atom  of  course,  and  in  that  and 
that  alone,  in  that  you  are  conscious,  and 
know  yourself  a  part  of  the  whole  and  be 
lieve  yourself  an  effective  part  of  it,  lies  hap 
piness.  I  enjoyed  hearing  you  talk  about 
the  American  Spirit ;  you  talked  about  the 
soul  of  a  country  as  if  you  had  seen  it  and 
felt  it  and  loved  it. 

My  dear  friend,  you  do  not  know  your 
own  soul,  nor  the  stuff  out  of  which  it  is 
made,  and  yet  in  your  American  conceit  you 
talk  about  the  soul  of  a  country.  It  was  an 
interesting  psychological  study  to  watch  you, 
and  it  gave  me  much  amusement  as  well  as 
something  to  think  about. 

I  enjoyed  you  most  of  all  in  your  own 
little  town,  your  college  and  your  hospitable, 
beautiful  home.  I  feared  you  would  burst 
from  pride  and  complacency  as  you  inter 
preted  the  "  American  Spirit "  from  that  little 
place ;  a  speck,  and  not  even  a  well-defined 
speck,  on  the  map  of  your  country. 

You,  a  world  traveller,  have  at  last  become 
a  really  narrow  provincial,  I  should  say  a 


26 o    Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

very  happy  one,  as  provincials  always  are. 
You  wanted  me  to  see  your  country  through 
the  June  atmosphere  of  your  Commence 
ment  ;  a  democratic,  peaceful,  rose-laden 
America.  I  saw  it  through  the  smoke  and 
grime  of  Chicago,  the  crowded  tenements  of 
New  York,  the  injustice  of  your  courts  and 
the  corruption  of  your  politics. 

Yet  I  am  glad  I  saw  your  America,  and  I 
want  to  thank  you  for  your  ardent  endeavor 
to  show  it  to  me  as  you  want  it  to  be,  and 
not  as  it  is. 

My  wife  sends  her  thanks  and  greetings. 
She  received  more  benefit  out  of  her  visit 
than  I.  I  have  had  to  promise  to  remodel 
the  house,  and  put  in  another  bathroom 
which  is  to  be  between  our  bedrooms.  The 
new  bathtub  must  be  porcelain  and  we  are 
to  have  an  instantaneous  heater.  She  still 
talks  a  good  deal  of  the  "  gute  cornflecks  " 
and  "  grep  frut "  which  we  both  enjoyed  so 
much.  Above  all  she  remembers  the  courtesy 
of  the  men,  and  if  the  servant  did  not  place 
her  chair  for  her  at  table,  I  fear  I  should  now 
have  to  do  it. 


The  Commencement  and  The  End    261 

America  certainly  is  a  Paradise  for  women, 
but  it  is  "  Die  Hoelle  "  for  men. 

Remember  that  when  you  and  any  of  your 
family  come  to  Berlin  you  are  to  be  our 
guests.  I  trust  you  will  come  soon,  for  con 
ditions  over  here  look  dubious,  and  the  war, 
"  der  grosse  Krieg"  may  come  before  we 
know  it. 

Herzliche  Gruesse  von  Haus  zu  Haus. 
Auf  Wiedersehen. 


XV 

The  Challenge  of  the  American  Spirit 

I   AM    sure  the   Herr   Director   will   not 
object  if  I  have  the  last  word ;  for  while 
he    was    with    me  that  privilege  was 
seldom  mine  and  obtained  only  by  dint  of 
strategy. 

Since  his  departure,  the  great  war  which 
he  prophesied  has  moved  over  Europe  and 
hides  every  bit  of  fair  and  peaceful  sky  like  a 
storm-cloud ;  its  thunder  and  destructive 
lightning  fill  the  air,  leaving  scarcely  a  place 
safe  and  undisturbed. 

Not  a  soul  is  unafraid,  not  a  heart  is  with 
out  pain  and  sorrow,  and  the  Herr  Director 
himself,  although  past  middle  age,  has  volun 
teered  to  serve  in  the  trenches,  slippery  from 
oozing  blood  and  foul  from  the  spattered 
brains  of  men.  The  "fiddling,  twiddling 
diplomats,  the  haggling,  calculating  mer 
chants  of  Babylon,  the  sleek  lords  with  their 
262 


Challenge  of  the  American  Spirit    263 

plumes  and  spurs  "  have  had  their  way,  and 
the  poor,  blind,  ignorant  millions,  made  mad 
by  hate,  do  their  brutal  bidding. 

We,  on  this  safer  side,  who  as  yet  have 
not  loosed  the  dogs  of  war,  have  calculated 
the  loss  to  Europe  in  the  fratricidal  slaughter 
of  its  most  virile  men,  in  the  loss  of  its  arts 
and  trades,  in  the  wreck  and  ruin  to  houses 
and  homes  and  in  the  age-long  poverty 
which  awaits.  Much  counting  has  been 
done  as  to  what  we  shall  make  out  of  this 
sure  bankruptcy  that  is  to  come  to  the  nations 
which  are  our  competitors  for  the  world's 
trade,  and  what  glory  shall  be  ours  when 
New  York,  and  not  London  shall  be  the  new 
Babylon,  with  power  to  make  the  "  Epha 
small  and  the  Shekel  great." 

With  the  incalculable  loss  to  the  European 
nations  there  has  come  to  some  of  them  a 
gain  in  national  unity  upon  which  under  no 
circumstances  we  may  count. 

It  has  been  with  no  small  sense  of  pride 
that  I  have  demonstrated  to  the  Herr  Director 
and  to  others  the  fact  that,  in  spite  of  our 
youth  as  a  nation,  and  the  varied  national, 


264    Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

linguistic  and  religious  rootage  of  our  popu 
lation  even  in  the  Colonial  period,  we  have 
grown  to  be  one  people.  Even  the  constant 
inflow  of  new  and  more  varied  human 
material  has  not  weakened  us  but  indeed  the 
sense  of  national  unity  has  grown  stronger. 
I  have  watched  with  joy  the  processes  by 
which  this  alien  element  was  becoming  one 
with  us,  the  fading  away  of  animosities  and 
inherited  prejudices,  and  the  making  of  a 
new  people  out  of  the  world's  conglomerate. 

The  war  has  brought  about  a  retardation 
of  this  process,  and  we  shall  have  great 
cause  for  gratitude  if  no  permanent  damage 
is  done  to  our  nation's  spirit,  a  loss  for  which 
no  possible  gain  in  any  direction  could  com 
pensate.  The  term  "Hyphenated  Ameri 
can,"  which  has  now  come  into  use,  if  it  in 
dicates  anything  more  than  the  place  of  a 
man's  national  or  racial  origin,  and  the  very 
natural  sympathies  arising  therefrom,  is  an 
insult  to  the  man  to  whom  it  is  applied,  and 
a  confession  of  divided  allegiance,  if  volun 
tarily  assumed. 

It  may  be  interesting  to  note  that  it  was 


Challenge  of  the  American  Spirit    265 

His  Majesty,  the  Emperor  of  Germany,  who 
repudiated  the  hyphen  when  a  German- 
American  delegation  called  on  him  on  the 
occasion  of  some  royal  anniversary. 

When  the  delegation  was  introduced  in 
this  hyphenated  manner,  he  said :  "  Germans 
I  know,  Americans  I  know,  but  German- 
Americans  I  do  not  know." 

Although  the  hyphen  has  always  existed, 
it  has  assumed  new  meaning  in  these  troub 
led  days  and  is  applied  as  a  term  of  oppro 
brium,  largely  to  Americans  of  German 
birth ;  people  who  have  always  been  loyal 
to  the  country  of  their  adoption,  and,  I  think, 
are  no  less  loyal  now. 

If  there  has  been  wavering  in  their  devo 
tion,  if  the  process  of  yielding  themselves  to 
the  ideals  and  interests  of  this  country  has 
been  arrested,  they  are  not  altogether  to 
blame,  and  we  ourselves  are  not  altogether 
blameless. 

It  was  thoroughly  in  harmony  with  the 
American  Spirit  that  our  sympathies  should 
go  out  to  brave  little  Belgium,  and  turn  from 
the  ruthless  conqueror  who  was  much  nearer 


266    Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

to  us  culturally  and  in  greater  harmony  with 
us  spiritually.  It  was  also  natural  for  the 
German  people  in  this  country  to  challenge 
the  evident  bias  of  the  press,  and  the  result 
ant  prejudices  arising  in  the  minds  of  their 
friends  and  neighbors.  Being  German  they 
knew  what  a  German  soldier  is  capable  of 
doing,  and  of  what  atrocities  he  is  guiltless ; 
although  in  the  attempt  to  defend  their  peo 
ple  they  in  turn  became  as  unfair  as  we, 
condoning  every  act  of  the  Germans  and  be 
smirching  their  enemies. 

How  far  this  bias  can  carry  one  is  illus 
trated  by  the  German  pastor  in  a  neighbor 
ing  town,  one  of  the  gentlest  souls  I  know, 
who,  when  told  of  the  destruction  of  the 
Lusitania,  said  :  "  Thanks  be  to  God,  let  the 
good  work  go  on."  He  will  not  have  to 
live  very  long  to  repent  of  this. 

To  match  him  I  may  quote  a  most  lovable 
Quaker  lady  nearly  ninety  years  of  age, 
who,  with  a  violence  in  striking  contrast  to 
the  Quaker  character,  expressed  as  her  dear 
est  wish  that  she  might  be  permitted  to  kill 
the  Emperor  of  Germany,  and  I  am  almost 


Challenge  of  the  American  Spirit    267 

sure  she  was  not  alone  in  that  pious  desire, 
even  among  the  members  of  her  family. 

The  German  press  and  the  German  pulpit 
have  fanned  this  reawakened  Germanic 
spirit,  not  always  from  lofty  motives,  and 
many  an  editor  and  pastor  have  found  this 
antagonism  a  source  of  revenue  and  a  hope 
of  perpetuating  their  influence. 

If  the  American  press  both  in  its  news  and 
editorial  columns  has  been  painful  reading 
to  any  one  who  loves  fair  play,  it  did  not 
help  him  to  turn  to  the  German  press,  whose 
utterances  were  made  more  distressing  by 
the  fact  that  not  infrequently  they  contained 
expressions  bordering  on  treason.  Had 
their  editors  lived  in  Germany  and  spoken 
of  the  Emperor  in  the  same  words  which 
they  applied  to  their  President,  their  terms 
of  imprisonment,  if  combined,  would  reach 
into  eternity. 

Even  after  the  war  the  attempt  will  be 
made  to  keep  alive  this  antagonism,  and  if 
possible  to  widen  the  breach.  It  will  be  a 
serious  challenge  to  our  national  spirit,  for  I 
doubt  that  we  can  maintain  a  vital  unity  un- 


268    Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

less  it  represents  one  country,  one  people, 
and  one  language. 

I  know  of  no  way  in  which  to  meet  this 
danger  effectively  ;  but  I  do  know  that  it  is 
not  through  reprisals  or  punishments.  Per 
haps  it  is  best  to  hope  that  at  the  close  of  the 
war  we  shall  all  recover  our  sanity.  Certain 
it  is  that  the  American  people  have  in  the 
Germans  in  this  country  too  valuable  and 
powerful  an  element  to  alienate,  and  the 
German  people  who  have  made  this 
country  their  home  have  too  great  a  sense 
of  the  value  of  it  and  its  institutions,  to  them 
and  their  children,  to  be  willing  to  jeopardize 
the  American  Spirit,  because  of  that  which 
must  be  but  a  passing  phase  in  the  history 
of  our  poor,  misguided,  human  race. 

Besides  the  threatened  break  in  unity,  the 
American  Spirit  is  being  challenged  by  a  call 
to  arms,  not  merely  to  avert  any  momentary, 
threatened  danger,  but  to  be  permanently 
safeguarded,  prepared  against  its  predatory 
neighbors  all  around  the  globe.  Whether 
those  who  join  in  this  call  know  it  or  not,  or 
wish  it  or  not,  it  means  militarism.  When  just 


Challenge  of  the  American  Spirit    269 

such  arguments  were  used  for  Germany's 
preparedness,  when  that  gospel  was  being 
preached  with  all  possible  fervor,  one  of  the 
wisest  Germans  said :  "  Wehrkraft  wird 
immer  Mehrkraft"  ("Defensive  power  al 
ways  becomes  offensive  power  "),  and  I  am 
sure  that  the  average  American  will  say 
that,  in  the  case  of  Germany,  this  has  proved 
true. 

If  I  were  arguing  for  military  preparedness, 
I  would  not  be  so  insistent  upon  the  building 
of  new  fortresses,  or  the  accumulation  of  am 
munition.  I  would  insist  upon  training  our 
children  in  obedience  and  reverence.  I  would 
give  them  schoolmasters  who  know  what 
they  teach  and  who  would  demand  strict  ap 
plication  to  the  curriculum.  I  would  oppose 
the  growing  pedagogic  idea  that  the  school 
room  is  a  playground,  and  that  knowledge 
may  be  acquired  without  hard  work.  I  would 
restore  the  rod  and  banish  the  coddler.  I 
would  call  in  our  high  school  boys  from  the 
side  lines,  from  their  vicarious  athletics  and 
their  slavish  imitation  of  college  customs,  and 
teach  them  how  to  dig  trenches  and  serve 


270    Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

cannon,  which  seem  to  be  the  chief  need  in 
modern  military  operations. 

It  is  folly  to  believe  that  fas  fiasco  of  the 
Russian  armies  was  due  to  the  lack  of  ammuni 
tion  or  of  sufficient  fortresses  ;  it  was  due  to 
the  lack  of  good  schools  and  to  the  lack  of 
discipline  among  its  educated  classes. 

With  the  decay  of  our  pioneer  spirit,  which 
is  inevitable,  with  the  growth  of  a  leisure 
class,  with  groups  of  men  and  women  who 
know  no  other  way  to  justify  their  existence 
than  to  play  bridge  or  go  to  Tango  teas  ; 
with  a  large  class  of  people  less  unfortunately 
situated,  who  have  to  work  for  their  living, 
but  from  whom  the  state  asks  nothing  in  the 
way  of  service  except  the  payment  of  taxes 
which  are  easily  evaded,  it  is  a  great  ques 
tion  how  to  keep  our  virility  and  how  to 
foster  a  patriotism  which  may  be  counted 
upon  in  the  time  of  national  danger.  I  am 
fairly  sure  that  some  other  way  than  the  mili 
taristic  way  ought  to  be  found.  I  am  not  sure 
that  we  shall  find  it ;  because  only  those  who 
seek  shall  find. 

There  are  some  things  we  may  profitably 


Challenge  of  the  American  Spirit    271 

learn  from  Germany,  and  one  is  the  main 
tenance  of  a  state  which  by  its  very  nature 
will  compel  devotion.  A  state  deeply  con 
cerned  with  the  well-being  of  every  individual ; 
a  state  which  sees  to  it  that  impartial  judg 
ment  shall  be  meted  out,  and  that  the  scales  do 
not  tip  to  those  who  weight  them  with  gold. 

A  state  which  eliminates  graft  and  is  able 
to  train  an  efficient  army  of  public  servants  is 
more  likely  to  gain  and  keep  the  loyalty  of 
its  citizens  than  one  which,  although  tech 
nically  free,  is  shackled  by  corruption  and 
graft,  and  which,  while  giving  each  man  the 
power  to  become  a  king,  places  the  major 
emphasis  upon  property  rather  than  upon 
person.  Yes,  we  have  a  great  deal  to  do  to 
be  properly  prepared,  besides  authorizing 
congress  to  spend  millions  for  "  reeking  tube 
and  iron  shard." 

What  I  most  fear  for  the  American  Spirit 
is  the  loss  of  that  which  makes  it  really 
American  and  truly  Spirit,  the  loss  of  its 
democracy.  I  am  confident  that  the  form  of 
our  government  is  not  endangered,  and  what 
ever  military  success  may  come  to  monarchic 


272    Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

governments  we  shall  not  envy  them  their 
kings  nor  put  ourselves  in  bondage  to  them. 
If  this  republic  is  still  an  experiment  then  we 
shall  see  the  experiment  through  to  the  end 
as  a  republic. 

I  am  also  sure  that  we  shall  work  out  the 
problem  which  confronts  us  in  the  relation 
ship  between  capital  and  labor,  and  that  we 
shall  create  here  an  industrial  democracy. 
The  dissatisfaction  with  the  present  system  is 
growing  daily,  even  among  the  so-called 
privileged  classes,  and  many  a  man,  well 
favored  by  circumstances,  is  crying  out  with 
Walt  Whitman,  "  By  God  !  I  will  not  have 
anything  which  others  cannot  have  on  the 
same  terms." 

What  I  most  dread  is,  that  we  shall  be  in 
creasingly  unable  to  be  democratic  in  our 
spirit,  in  our  relation  to  those  who  are  in  any 
marked  way  differentiated  from  us  racially. 
Our  caste  system  is  daily  growing  in  strength, 
the  social  taboos  are  increasing  in  number,  the 
spirit  is  barred  from  moving  freely  among  all 
classes  and  races,  and  thus  is  bound  to  perish. 

The  social  boycott  practiced  against  the 


Challenge  of  the  American  Spirit    273 

Jews,  and  which  is  even  more  thorough  here 
than  it  is  in  Russia,  may  be  followed  by  an 
economic  boycott,  and  what  has  but  recently 
happened  in  Georgia  makes  such  occurrences 
on  a  larger  scale  not  impossible.  The  atti 
tude  of  the  American  people  both  South  and 
North  towards  the  Negro  is  not  growing  bet 
ter,  and  it  will  take  more  than  all  the  brave 
optimism  of  Booker  T.  Washington  to  con 
vince  me  that  this  is  not  true. 

It  is  anything  but  the  American  Spirit 
which  greets  the  Japanese  and  Chinese  at 
the  Pacific  Coast,  and  the  decadence  of  that 
spirit  is  daily  creating  for  itself  new  victims 
for  its  prejudices  and  hates. 

It  seems  to  be  a  growing  conviction  that 
in  order  to  foster  our  racial  integrity  and  self- 
respect  we  need  to  have  contempt  for  other 
people  and  make  of  them  a  sort  of  mental 
cuspidore. 

I  know  the  difficulty  involved  in  this  prob 
lem.  I  believe  it  is  the  most  serious  chal 
lenge  which  the  American  Spirit  has  to  meet, 
and  here  and  here  alone  I  confess  my  doubt 
as  to  its  ability  to  meet  it. 


274    Introducing  the  American  Spirit 

This  is  no  time,  though,  to  turn  doubt  into 
despair,  nor  is  it  the  time  for  the  calling  of 
conventions  and  the  organization  of  societies. 
It  is  a  time,  however,  for  the  strengthening  of 
our  faith  in  one  another,  for  renewed  alle 
giance  to  humanity  no  matter  how  it  is  en 
cased,  for  a  patriotism  based  upon  something 
bigger  than  identity  of  race.  It  is  a  time  for 
mutual  forbearance,  for  the  divine  gift  to 
see  ourselves  as  others  see  us  ;  for  a  supreme 
loyalty  to  our  country,  and  a  determination 
stronger  than  death  to  make  this  country  ca 
pable  of  winning  the  loyalty  of  all  its  citizens. 

It  is  a  time  to  glory  in  being  an  American 
and  to  become  desperately  sure  we  have 
something  in  which  to  glory.  Now  as  never 
before  should  there  be  serious  self-examina 
tion  to  see  whether  we  have  not  sinned 
against  the  Spirit 

This  is  the  time  to  accept  the  Challenge  of 
the  American  Spirit  and  prove  that  we  are 
loyal  enough  to  follow  its  guidance. 

PRINTED  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  OF  AMERICA 


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DUE  AS  STAMPED  BELOW 


JUN  031998 


N9  557658 

E168 
Steiner,  E.A*  S828 

Introducing  the 
American  spirit* 


LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
DAVIS 


